Rosa Parks Tea Towel
Regular price$18.00
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Rosa Parks Tea Towel

Celebrate the iconic woman who made a stand by staying in her seat.

‘People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.’

It is a Thursday evening in December 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama. After a long day of work as a seamstress, Rosa Parks boards a city bus to go home. She walks past the first few rows of seats marked ‘Whites Only.’ It is against the law for her, as an African American, to sit in these. She sits in the middle of bus, where she is permitted to sit as long as no white person is standing. This is a deeply racist, segregated society.

The bus continues along its route, gradually getting more crowded. The driver notices that all the seats in the ‘Whites Only’ section are now taken, and orders the people in Parks’ row to move to the back of bus, where there are no seats. Reluctantly, they all get up… except Rosa. And just like that, a small act of resistance sparks national protest.

Parks’ refusal to surrender her seat spurred a city-wide boycott, leading the Supreme Court to lift the law requiring segregation on public buses. It also saw the emergence of Martin Luther King Jr as a civil rights activist, and the growth of the wider movement for racial equality. Parks became an international icon, labelled the ‘first lady of civil rights’ and the ‘the mother of the freedom movement.’

Celebrate the iconic woman who made a stand by staying in her seat

Fabric Details

Half Panama unbleached cotton (heavy weight, textured finish). Special inks so colours last in the wash. Stitched on all four sides. Includes hanging loop. Measures approximately 48cm x 70cm.

Machine wash at 40 degrees max. We recommend that before you use your tea towel for the first time you wash it at least once to soften up the material and make it more absorbent for drying dishes. Please note size can vary slightly.

Why it's on The Cornrow?

The Radical Tea Towel company was a great find. They are a company on a mission to promote and celebrate radical and inclusive values and we are all here for it!

This product is located in:

  • UK

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Customer Reviews

Based on 2 reviews
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L
Loris

The tea towels and the two handed oven mitt are made very well. I love the colors. The items came very fast even though they were coming from England to the west coast of the USA. USA vendors need to take shipping lessons from The Cornrow!

S
Susan Taylor
Love it!

I love that I didn't know this quote from Rosa Parks - "the only kind of tired I was, was tired of giving in" - great quote. And great quality in the fabric.

The Radical Tea Towel Company

Bea, Tim, and Luke, the founders of The Radical Tea Towel, were inspired by Bea's mother, Pat, who was a radical. Pat was a socialist, a feminist, and a peace campaigner, known for her unwavering loyalty as a mother and grandmother. She lived her values, speaking her mind with politeness and engaging with people from all walks of life. When Pat passed away in 2010, Bea wanted to find a meaningful gift for her partner, David, who shared her mother's politics. Unable to find a political tea towel online, Bea, Tim, and Luke decided to start their own company.

Despite their lack of business experience, they believed that there were others who wanted to give gifts that carried a message, made people think, and offered hope. They designed their own tea towels and had them manufactured in the UK with ethical partners. The response was overwhelming, with customers sharing their designs and blogs on social media, spreading the message of radical history. As they continue to grow their small business, they are proud to educate others about the origins of rights and freedoms.

Though Pat and David would likely tease them for participating in 21st-century social media capitalism, Bea and her family hope they would also be proud of their efforts. With gratitude for the support they've received, they continue to promote their vision of a more progressive and enlightened world through The Radical Tea Towel.


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