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 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". 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. Born in February 1913, Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist whose refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in 1955 led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Her bravery led 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, 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 Unfortunately, Parks was forced to withdraw after her grandmother became ill. Growing up in the segregated South, Parks was frequently confronted with racial discrimination and violence. She became active in the Civil Rights Movement at a young age. Parks married a local barber by the name of Raymond Parks when she was 19. April 14, 2005: Parks and the hip-hop group Outkast reach an out-of-court settlement regarding their 1998 song "Rosa Parks." October 24, 2005: Parks dies at the age of 92 We see Rosa Parks not simply as a bus lady but a lifelong criminal justice activist and radical; Martin Luther King, Jr. as not only challenging Southern sheriffs but Northern liberals, too; and Coretta Scott King not only as a "helpmate" but a lifelong economic justice and peace activist who pushed her husband's activism in these directions. Parks' arrest on December 1, 1955 launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott by 17,000 black citizens. A Supreme Court ruling and declining revenues forced the city to desegregate its buses thirteen months later. Parks became an instant icon, but her resistance was a natural extension of a lifelong commitment to activism. An important historical understanding that should emerge is Rosa Parks’ legacy as a lifelong activist differs from her traditional portrayal in narratives of the Civil Rights Movement. No Meekness Here: Meet Rosa Parks, 'Lifelong Freedom Fighter' As the 60th anniversary of the historic Montgomery Bus Boycott approaches, Parks was also an anti-rape activist. Rosa Parks, like Rosa Parks is an icon of the civil rights movement. But as historian Jeanne Theoharis recounts, she didn’t just get arrested once on a bus. Parks was a lifelong activist. Rosa Parks: Lifelong Activist Rosa Parks began advocating for equal rights for African Americans in the 1940s, when she was a young woman. She organized community meetings, helped find lawyers for those who had been falsely accused of crimes, and assisted citizens in navigating the cumbersome and discriminatory voter registration process. "Beyond the Bus: Rosa Parks’ Lifelong Struggle for Justice" Biographer Jeanne Theoharis, professor of political science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, describes in this article written for the Library of Congress Magazine, vol. 4 no. 2 (March-April 2015):16-18, the recently acquired Rosa Parks Papers and how they shed new light on Parks and her activism. Rosa Parks: Lifelong Activist Rosa Parks began advocating for equal rights for African Americans in the 1940s, when she was a young woman. She organized community meetings, helped find lawyers for those who had been falsely accused of crimes, and assisted citizens in navigating the cumbersome and discriminatory voter registration process. Rosa Parks, widely known for her dramatic stand that sparked the Montgomery bus boycott and remembered as a central figure of of the civil rights movement, was also both a lifelong activist and an accomplished speaker. Best known for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Rosa Parks also fought lifelong against sexual violence and systemic oppression—exposing the deep ties between racism, sexism and misogynoir. Rosa Parks (left) and Coretta Scott King attend an exhibit on Martin Luther King, Jr., at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Even accounts of Parks’ life that reject that deeply problematic narrative often omit the fact that she was not only a lifelong activist, but also a political strategist, an organizer against sexual violence, a supporter of the Black Power movement, an admirer of Malcolm X, a believer in Black people’s right to self-defense, and so much more. More on Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis. Rosa Parks Was a Radical in The Jacobin. Rosa Parks: What to Know About the Lifelong Activist and Civil Rights Icon in Teen Vogue. Pitting Rosa Parks against Claudette Colvin distorts history in The Washington Post with Say Burgin
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