Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement, best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement". [1] Who was Rosa Parks? Meet the woman who changed the course of history Oct. 24, 2005. She was 92-years-old. Photograph by Paul Sancya, AP. By Erin Blakemore. February 3, 2025. Parks is now Rosa Parks met Raymond Parks in 1932 when she was just 19 years old, and they soon married. Raymond, a barber by trade, was actively involved in the civil rights movement and supported Rosa's growing interest in activism. 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, widely known as “the mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama, USA. As of 2025, she would have been 112 years old. However, Parks passed away on October 24, 2005, at the age of 92. 02/03/2025 February 3, 2025. She stood up for her rights by staying seated. In the 1950s, Rosa Parks gave the US Civil Rights Movement a huge boost, and inspired Martin Luther King Jr. Rosa Parks, a name that resonates with courage and defiance, ushered in a new era of civil rights in the United States. Her singular act of refusing to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger on December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, ignited a movement that would change the course of American history. On October 24th, 2005, at the age of 92, she died of natural causes leaving behind a rich legacy of resistance against racial discrimination and injustice. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and set in motion one of the largest social movements in history, the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Find out more about her at womenshistory.org. Mrs. Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley, February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. She was the first child of James and Leona Edwards McCauley. Her brother, Sylvester McCauley, now deceased, was born August 20, 1915. Later, the family moved to Pine Level, Alabama where Rosa was reared and educated in the rural school. She died in October 2005 at age 92. 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. | By Gale Staff | Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913, almost 50 years after the abolition of slavery and just over 50 years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964.. As her life unfolded at the crossroads of these defining moments in American history, she made a courageous decision on a Montgomery bus that brought the collective frustration of black Alabamans to the forefront of the national 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 Rosa Parks, the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement" was one of the most important citizens of the 20th century. Mrs. Parks was a seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama when, in December of 1955, she refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger. The bus driver had her arrested. She was tried and convicted of violating a local ordinance. Her act sparked a citywide boycott of the A Michigan public act established Rosa Parks Day, celebrated on the first Monday following her February 4 birthday. Rosa Parks was 92 years old when she died in her Detroit home on October 24, 2005. The front seats of city buses in Detroit and Montgomery were adorned with black ribbons in the days preceding her funeral. In 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery. On December 5, 1955, she was convicted of disorderly conduct and fined prompting the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Rosa Parks was 19 years old when she got married. Born in 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama, Rosa moved to Montgomery for schooling. In 1932, she married Rosa Parks chose to be arrested instead of giving up her seat and became a symbol of the fight against an unjust, racist system. She was nicknamed “the first lady of civil rights” by the U.S. Congress. The Early Life And Activism Of Rosa Parks . Rosa Parks was born in 1913 (February 4), in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her maiden name was McCauley. She got married to a boy named Raymond Parks . Rosa’s full name was Rosa Louise Parks McCauley once she got married. She married her husband in the year of 1932. She joined her husband as a Civil Rights activists. How old was Rosa Parks when she met Raymond Parks? In 1932, a 19-year-old Rosa met her husband Raymond Parks, a barber and member The most famous moment of Rosa Parks’s life occurred on December 1, 1955, when she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery bus. This act of defiance was not spontaneous; it was a calculated decision made by a woman who had been involved in civil rights activism for years. AMY GOODMAN: A hundred years ago today, civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks was born. It was February 4th, 1913. On December 1st, 1955, when she was 42 years old, she refused to give up her seat to a
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