Here’s a full profile on the legendary Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
Full Name: Rosa Louise McCauley Parks
Born: February 4, 1913 – Tuskegee, Alabama, USA
Died: October 24, 2005 – Detroit, Michigan, USA
Known As: “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement”
Early Life
- Raised in Montgomery, Alabama, during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation.
- Left high school early to care for family, but later earned her diploma.
- Married Raymond Parks, a barber and NAACP activist, in 1932. He encouraged her involvement in civil rights work.
Civil Rights Role
- In the 1940s, became active in the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).
- Worked as a seamstress but was deeply engaged in racial justice issues, particularly cases of Black women who were victims of assault.
The Bus Boycott
- December 1, 1955 (Montgomery, Alabama): Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated city bus.
- Her arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, organized by the Montgomery Improvement Association with a young Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as its leader.
- The boycott lasted 381 days, crippling the bus system and becoming a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement.
- In 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional.
Later Life & Impact
- Faced harassment and threats in Montgomery; moved to Detroit, Michigan, in 1957 with her husband.
- Continued activism on issues of housing, racial justice, and criminal justice reform.
- Worked for Congressman John Conyers Jr. from 1965–1988.
- Founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in 1987 to mentor youth.
Honors & Recognition
- Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1996).
- Received the Congressional Gold Medal (1999).
- In 2005, after her death, she became the first woman to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
- Remembered globally as a symbol of courage, dignity, and peaceful resistance.
