Rosa+Parks


 * R**[[image:rosaparks.jpg width="277" height="211" align="left"]]

Rosa Parks was born Febuary 4, 1913 as Rosa Louis McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama, to James McCauley,who was a carpenter, and Leone McCauley, a teacher. When Rosa was two, she moved to her grandparents’ farm in Pine Level, Alabama where she joined her mother and brother, Sylvester. At the age of 11 she began school at the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls. After attending Alabama State Teachers College, Rosa settled in Montgomery,with her husband, Raymond Parks. The couple joined the local chapter of the .[|NAACP]and worked to improve the lots of African-Americans in the segregated south.” The segregation laws that applied to public transportation required blacks to pay their fare to the driver and then get off to reboard the bus through the back door. In Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger and was arrested.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus. She took a seat in the fifth row – the first row of the “Colored Section.” The driver was the same one who had put her off a bus 12 years earlier for refusing to get off and reboard through the back door. Parks was the ideal plaintiff for a test case. She was arrested on a Thursday; bail was posted by Clifford Durr, the white lawyer whose wife had employed Parks as a seamstress. That night, Rosa Parks agreed to challenge the constitutionality of Montgomery’s segregation laws. During a midnight meeting of the Women’s Political Council, 35,000 handbills were mimeographed for distribution to all black schools the next morning. The message was simple: “We are…asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial… You can afford to stay out of school for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown-ups, don’t ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off the buses Monday.” The trial lasted 30 minutes, with the expected conviction and penalty. That afternoon, the Montgomery Improvement Association was formed. The members elected as their president a relative newcomer to Montgomery, the young minister of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church: the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. That evening he addressed the crowd that gathered at the Holt Street Baptist Church.

In 1957, Mrs. Parks and her husband moved to Detroit, Michigan where Mrs. Parks served on the staff of the U.S. Representative John Conyers. The Southern Christian Leadership Council established an annual Rosa Parks Freedom Award in her honor. After the death of her husband in 1977, Mrs. Parks founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks[|Institute for Self-Development]. The Institute sponsors an annual summer program for teenagers called Pathways to Freedom. The young people tour the country in buses, under adult supervision, learning the history of their country and of the civil rights movement. President Clinton presented Rosa Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996. She received a Congressional Gold Medal in 1999.” Mrs. Parks spent her last years living quietly in Detroit, where she died in October 24, 2005 at the age of 92. After her death, her casket was placed in the rotunda of the United States Capitol for two days. She was the first woman in American history to lie in state at the Capitol, an honor usually reserved for Presidents of the United States.

Rosa Parks was determined, an.[|inspiration to everyone], tolerant and a role model. She made a difference in my life because even though she was scared to not give up her seat she took the risk for what she believed in. She demanded equality and was ready to stand up for herself. This inspires me because now I know that you should always stand up for what you believe in no matter what the cost may be. Rosa Parks was a brave and loyal person. She did what she had to. If she hadn’t refused to give up her seat, there might still be segregation today. Today nobody can tell anyone where to sit or what they can or cannot do. People have the will of choice. None of this would be possible if it wasn’t for Rosa Parks and other African Americans.


 * Work Cited Page**
 * Baskin, Jesse. "People of Purpose". Montgomery City Code. 19 Feb. 2009 .
 * Brand-Williams, Oralandar. "Civil rights legend dies at age 92". The Detroit News. 22 Feb. 2009 .
 * Celsi, Teresa. __Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott__. Brookfield: Millbrook Press, 1991.
 * Gale, Thomson. "Black History". Biography Resource Center. 20 Feb. 2009 .
 * Lewis, Jone. "Women's History". About. 20 Feb. 2008 .
 * Peek, Anita. "Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute For Self-Development". Just Give. 20 Feb. 2009 .
 * Reed, Gregory. __Quiet Strength__ . Grand Rapids : Zondervan Publishing House, 1994.
 * Schraff, Anne. __Tired of Giving In__. Berkeley Heights: Enslow Publishers, 2005.
 * Tobia, Mawlood. "Martin Luther King Jr.". Wikispaces. 20 Feb. 2009 .
 * "Nation Bids Farewell To Civil Rights Icon Rosa Parks ". NPR. 18 Feb. 2009 .
 * "Where Rosa Parks Sat". 15 Feb. 2008 .