Rosa Parks (born February 4, 1913, Tuskegee, Alabama, U.S.—died October 24, 2005, Detroit, Michigan) was an American civil rights activist whose refusal to relinquish her seat on a public bus precipitated the 1955–56 Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama, which became the spark that ignited the civil rights movement in the United States. Rosa Parks, born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama, was shaped by her early childhood experiences and the societal climate of the segregated South. After her parents separated when Parks was just two years old, she moved with her mother to Pine Level, Alabama, to live with her maternal grandparents, who were former enslaved people Childhood, Family, and Education. Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her parents, James and Leona McCauley, separated when Parks was 2. Parks Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913, to Leona (née Edwards), a teacher, and James McCauley, a carpenter.In addition to African ancestry, one of Parks's great-grandfathers was Scots-Irish, and one of her great-grandmothers was a part–Native American slave. Rosa Parks, also known as ‘the first lady of civil rights’ and ‘the mother of the freedom movement’, was a famous African-American civil rights activist. This biography profiles her childhood, life, career, works, achievements and timeline. Learn about the life and legacy of Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in 1955 and sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Find out how she grew up in the segregated South and became an activist for civil rights. Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1913 and moved to Pine Level, Alabama with her family. She received her high school diploma in 1934 and married Raymond Parks, a self-educated activist and NAACP member. Rosa was determined “never to accept [Jim Crow], even if it must be endured.” In 1932 she married Raymond Parks, a barber and charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) branch, in Montgomery, Alabama. Rosa and Raymond had similar personalities and shared an interest in racial politics. Biography: Where did Rosa Parks grow up? Rosa grew up in the southern United States in Alabama. Her full name was Rosa Louise McCauley and she was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4, 1913 to Leona and James McCauley. Her mother was a teacher and her father a carpenter. She had a younger brother named Sylvester. Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee on February 4, 1913, to James McCauley, a carpenter and stonemason, and Leona Edwards, a teacher. She spent much of her childhood living with her maternal grandparents in Pine Level, a small town in southeast Montgomery County. There, she began her education in an all-black school with a Rosa Parks was a devout Christian. Quote: "I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people." -- Rosa Parks (See more quotes) # Rosa Parks: The Mother of Civil Rights # Rosa's Story Rosa Parks (1913—2005) helped initiate the civil rights movement in the United States when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955. Her actions In 1980, following the deaths of her husband (1977), brother (1977) and mother (1979), Parks, along with The Detroit News, and the Detroit Public school system, founded the Rosa L. Parks Scholarship Foundation. Parks also co-founded, with Elaine Steele, the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in 1987. An older Rosa Parks recounted how her grandmother grew very angry when a young Rosa told her about the brick incident and worried for her safety. Rosa told her grandmother: “I would rather be lynched than live to be mistreated than not be allowed to say ‘I don’t like it.’” Rosa Parks framed the power of speaking back as fundamental. Early Childhood Incidents and Experiences, ca. 1955-1958. Autograph manuscript. Rosa Parks Papers. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. (Rosa Parks recounts the desertion of her father, James McCauley, and growing up in rural Pine Level, Alabama on the farm of maternal grandparents, Sylvester and Rosa Edwards, with her mother and brother, Leona and Sylvester McCauley.) rosa louise parks biography Rosa Louise Parks was nationally recognized as the “mother of the modern day civil rights movement” in America. Her refusal to surrender her seat to a white male passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, December 1, 1955, triggered a wave of protest December 5, 1955 that reverberated throughout the United States. The papers of Rosa Parks (1913-2005) span the years 1866-2006, with the bulk of the material dating from 1955 to 2000. The collection, which contains approximately 7,500 items in the Manuscript Division, as well as 2,500 photographs in the Prints and Photographs Division, documents many aspects of Parks's private life and public activism on behalf of civil rights for African Americans. Rosa Parks is best known for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, which sparked a yearlong boycott that was a turning point in the civil rights In 1932 she married Raymond Parks, a barber and member of the NAACP. At that time, Raymond Parks was active in the Scottsboro case. In 1943 Rosa Parks joined the local chapter of the NAACP and was elected secretary. Two years later, she registered to vote, after twice being denied. By 1949 Parks was advisor to the local NAACP Youth Council. It is time to move Rosa Parks beyond the elementary school curriculum. Drawn from The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks and various archival sources including Rosa Parks’ newly-opened papers at the Library of Congress, this project traces the expanse of Rosa Parks’ political work and commitments and the breadth of the Black struggle for justice across the 20th century.
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