Rosa Parks was not the first Black woman to refuse to give up her seat on a segregated bus, though her story attracted the most attention nationwide. Nine months before Parks, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin had refused to give up her bus seat, as had dozens of other Black women throughout the history of segregated public transit. 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. In 1987, she co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development, promoting youth education and leadership, ensuring that her legacy as a champion for civil rights continued to inspire future generations. Personal Life: Married Life | Husband. Rosa Parks met Raymond Parks in 1932 when she was just 19 years old, and they soon I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” Parks courageous act and the subsequent Montgomery Bus Boycott led to the integration of public transportation in Montgomery. Her actions were not without consequence. December 1, 1955: Rosa Parks Is Arrested. On Thursday, December 1, 1955, the 42-year-old Rosa Parks was commuting home from a long day of work at the Montgomery Fair department store by bus. Black An old photograph of Rosa Parks’ husband, Raymond Parks. She lost her department store job, and her husband was fired from his barber job at Maxwell Air Force Base after his boss forbade him In her autobiography, Rosa Parks: My Story (1992), Parks declares her defiance was an intentional act: "I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was 42. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in." January 7, 1956: Parks is let go from her job as a tailor's assistant at the Montgomery Fair department store. January 1956: Raymond quits his barbershop job after discussion of his wife and the 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. 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. 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. And it was the year that two white men brutally murdered 14-year-old Emmett Till, who was Black, in Mississippi. Rosa Parks, left, and Martin Luther King Jr., second from left, presented this By refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus, Rosa Parks is known as “the mother of the Civil Rights Movement.” Her decision sparked campaigns around the country, which eventually led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. Who was Rosa Parks and what did she do? Rosa Parks was born Rosa McCauley on February 4 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 (1913-2005) is one of the most enduring symbols of the tumultuous civil rights era of the mid-twentieth century. Her 1955 arrest in Montgomery for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and set in motion a chain of events that resulted in ground-breaking civil [] Rosa Parks, the matriarch of the civil rights movement, has been described as an old woman who was too tired to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. However, Parks used her autobiography to correct the record. “I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two.” On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, who worked as a seamstress in a department store in Montgomery, Alabama, boarded a city bus after work and took a seat. She was 42 years old, married, and active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Rosa Parks didn’t sit on the bus, launch the Montgomery bus boycott–which lasted many months and finally forced the city to change the bus segregation laws in December of 1956–and galvanize Civil Rights activists because her feet were tired after a long day. After attending Alabama State Teachers College, the young Rosa settled in Montgomery, with her husband, Raymond Parks. The couple joined the local chapter of the N ational A ssociation of the A dvancement of C oloured P eople (NAACP) and worked quietly for many years to improve the lot of African-Americans in the segregated south. 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.
Articles and news, personal stories, interviews with experts.
Photos from events, contest for the best costume, videos from master classes.