Raymond Arthur Parks (February 12, 1903 – August 19, 1977) was an American activist in the civil rights movement and barber, best known as the husband of Rosa Parks. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] His wife called him "the first real activist I ever met.” [ 3 ] Husband, Raymond Parks. Raymond Parks was born in Wedowee, Alabama, the son of David, a carpenter, and Geri Culbertson Parks. He spent his childhood caring for ill family members and was orphaned as a teen. A mutual friend introduced Raymond to Rosa in the spring of 1931. He proposed on their second date. Following her pivotal role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Rosa Parks faced significant challenges. Despite becoming an emblematic figure of the Civil Rights Movement, Parks lost her job at the department store and her husband, Raymond, was also dismissed from his position due to the backlash stemming from her protest. Parks and her husband lost their jobs after the boycott Soon after the Montgomery bus boycott began, Parks lost her job as a tailor's assistant at the Montgomery Fair department store. Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley on Feb. 13th, 1913, in Tuskegee, AL. She had one younger brother named Sylvester. Her mother Leona and father, James, separated when Rosa was still quite young. According to a Library of Congress report, Rosa's grandparents Sylvester and Rose, played a key role in Rosa's strong sense of justice. Rosa was Activist Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott that partially ended racial segregation. She lost her department store job, and her husband was fired from his barber job at Maxwell Air 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. On 18 December 1932 he married Rosa McCauley, who later became well-known as Rosa Parks, a civil rights activist. Raymond worked as a barber and was a member of the NAACP. Raymond's wife, Rosa, became a prominent figure in the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott.Both Raymond and Rosa lost their jobs and struggled to find work in Montgomery. In addition to her arrest, Parks lost her job as a seamstress at a local department store. Her husband Raymond lost his job as a barber at a local air force base after his boss forbade him to talk about the legal case. Parks and her husband left Montgomery in 1957 to find work, first traveling to Virginia and later to Detroit, Michigan. Rosa Parks smiles during a ceremony where she received the Congressional Medal of Freedom in Detroit on Nov. 28, 1999. Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man sparked the 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 (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 (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 Rosa Parks' husband, too, quit his job as a Maxwell Air Force Base barber after being told that he couldn't mention his wife at all (via Biography). And after that, no one wanted to hire either of them — she was too high-profile even for the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organization that had coordinated the bus boycott. Rosa Parks' Job with Congressman John Conyers, Jr.: In 1964, Rosa Parks worked on John Conyers, Jr.'s congressional campaign in Michigan, and through her connection with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Conyers was able to secure King's endorsement. Rosa Parks and Elaine Eason Steele co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in February 1987, in honor of Rosa's husband, who died from cancer in 1977. The institute runs the "Pathways to Freedom" bus tours, which introduce young people to important civil rights and Underground Railroad sites throughout the country. Because Parks was an upstanding citizen with a husband, job and a political conscience, she made an ideal face of the movement. On December 5, the day of Parks’ trial, African Americans, led by the NAACP and other community leaders, united in a massive boycott of Montgomery public buses. Parks, Rosa. Rosa Parks: My Story. New York: Puffin Books, 1999. Theoharis, Jeanne. The Rebellious Life of Mrs.Rosa Parks. New York: Beacon Press, 2014. 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. With husband Raymond’s support, Rosa earned her high school diploma in 1933. At the time, few blacks in Montgomery had a high school education, but Rosa still struggled to find a suitable job. She took in sewing work at home on the side and worked as an insurance agent, office clerk, domestic, and nurse’s aide to supplement Raymond’s income.
Articles and news, personal stories, interviews with experts.
Photos from events, contest for the best costume, videos from master classes.