Tuesday 6 October 2026 · tip 8635 · Rosa Parks series #198

Rosa Parks #198 — Springfield NAACP programme, 12 November 1956

A printed programme in the Rosa Parks Papers is headed “The Montgomery Bus Boycott,” names the Springfield Branch of the NAACP, and is dated November 12, 1956. Its order of events assigns “Montgomery Boycott” to “Mrs. Rosa Parks,” immediately after an introduction by Mrs. Ruth B. Loving. Evidence of a planned public account by Parks while the boycott was still under way — not a retrospective anniversary programme.

What the sheet shows

• Title, branch, date, and Parks/Loving slots are printed, not later handwritten identifications
• Also lists: “Civil Rights” slot for Rabbi Norman Lamm; selections by the Bethelaires; offering assigned to Rev. George T. Sims, Jr.; discussion assigned to Dr. Mary C. McLean; closing appeal to join the branch
• Identifies a branch-organized civil-rights programme, not a solo Parks lecture or MIA minute
• Date precedes the end of the Montgomery bus boycott (December 1956)

What the sheet does NOT prove

• That the meeting took place
• That Parks attended or delivered remarks
• What she said
• A printed state, street address, or venue — “Springfield Branch” alone
• That Parks belonged to the Springfield branch or endorsed every other speaker

Place limits

Ruth B. Loving is independently documented as a Springfield, Massachusetts civil-rights activist and NAACP participant. That makes Massachusetts a plausible identification, not a place explicitly established by this sheet. An original branch record or local press notice would strengthen location and occurrence.

Craft boundary

Programme listing ≠ attendance / performance / speech delivery. Scheduled versus realized events kept distinct. Adjacent handwritten pages should not be presumed to be her text for this event merely because the archive files them together. Keep distinct from registration-interview (#191), boycott-strategy (#192), alterations-tailor (#193), Conyers-employment (#194), Wallace-sympathy (#195), King-III-SCLC (#196), Colvin-earlier-mass-action (#197), and photo-investigation tracks.

Primary source

• LOC Rosa Parks Papers, item mss859430225, digital leaf 7
• Source note: verified note b6f5817
• Method: direct visual reading of the LOC scan; OCR only as cross-check; short identifying phrases only

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