When Rosa passed away on October 24, 2005, at the age of 92, people around the world mourned her loss. Her body lay in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, an honor reserved for only a few great Americans. Why Rosa Parks Matters. Rosa Parks’ story is a reminder that courage doesn’t always come with loud speeches or grand gestures. Rosa Parks was born Rosa McCauley on February 4, 1913. She received her early education at a private school, but while caring for both her grandmother and mother, Rosa had to delay completing her high school credits. She received her high school diploma in 1934, after her marriage to Raymond Parks, December 18, 1932. Raymond, now deceased was born in Wedowee, Alabama, Randolph County, February 12, 1903, received little formal education due to racial segregation. Who is Rosa Parks? Rosa Parks, born Rosa Louise McCauley on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama, is celebrated as a pivotal figure in the American civil rights movement. Her most notable act of defiance occurred on December 1, 1955, when she refused to yield her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. Unfortunately, after her grandmother and mother fell extremely ill, Rosa had to drop out of the secondary school, Alabama State Teachers' College for Negroes, at age 16 during the In 1929, Rosa left the school in the 11 th grade to help both her sick grandmother and mother back in Pine Level. For a time, she worked at a shirt factory in Montgomery, but Rosa did eventually Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on 4 February 1913, Rosa Louise McCauley Parks grew up in Montgomery and was educated at the laboratory school of Alabama State College. In 1932 she married Raymond Parks, a barber and member of the NAACP. At that time, Raymond Parks was active in the Scottsboro case. Despite the societal barriers of the time, Parks was determined to pursue her education and, with the encouragement and support of her husband Raymond Parks, whom she married in 1932, she earned her high school diploma in 1934, a significant achievement for an African American woman of that era. Rosa Parks arrives at circuit court to be arraigned in the Montgomery bus boycott on Feb. 24, 1956 in Montgomery, Ala. The boycott started on Dec. 5, 1955 when Parks was fined for refusing to move Rosa Parks did not attend college. She attended the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls for 9th grade and went on to Alabama State Teachers College for Negroes (now Alabama State University) for 10th and part of 11th grade. However, she had to leave school at the age of 16 due to an illness in her family. Who Was Rosa Parks? Rosa Parks, born in February 1913, was a pivotal figure in the American civil rights movement. Her courageous decision to refuse to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in December 1955, sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a significant event in the struggle against racial segregation. Rosa Parks (center, in dark coat and hat) rides a bus at the end of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Montgomery, Alabama, Dec. 26, 1956. Don Cravens/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images. Most of us know Rosa Parks as the African American woman who quietly, but firmly, refused to give up her bus seat to a white person Dec. 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama. That small act of Honors and Recognition: Rosa Parks received many accolades during her lifetime, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Death and Lasting Impact : Parks passed away on October 24, 2005, but her legacy endures. Rosa Parks took the legal principle of ``equal protection under the law'' for all Americans in the 1954 Brown decision and applied it to public transportation--which eventually led to a 1964 Civil Rights Act, a 1965 Voting Rights Act and a 1968 Open Housing Act, all of which helped to build a more perfect union among the states and make America Over the course of her life, Parks received many honors, including NAACP's Springarn Medal in 1979, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999. After Parks died in Detroit in 2005 at the age of 92, she became the first woman to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist and the Montgomery Bus Boycott had been proposed for a long time before the actions of Rosa Parks kick-started the plan into action. Also, there was an entire civil rights movement bubbling under the surface, training, organising and planning this non-violent mass protest. Rosa Parks became an iconic figure in the fight against racial discrimination when she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955. This act of defiance was more than just a refusal to move; it was a statement against the unjust laws of segregation that plagued the American South. Her arrest was the catalyst for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal After working on the new Library of Congress exhibit about her life - I was shocked at how many people were misinformed — including myself. Yes, there were others, like teenager Claudette Colvin, who protested on the bus before Parks and didn’t receive the same kind of notoriety. Rosa Parks' Bus . In 1955, African Americans were still required by a Montgomery, Alabama, city ordinance to sit in the back half of city buses and to yield their seats to white riders if the Her legacy is honored every year on December 1st, known as Rosa Parks Day in some states. The Rosa Parks Library and Museum in Montgomery is dedicated to preserving her story. Rosa Parks’ childhood home was moved to Germany for preservation and display. A biographical film about her life, “The Rosa Parks Story,” was released in 2002.
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