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. The actual bus on which Rosa Parks sat was made available for the public to board and sit in the seat that Rosa Parks refused to give up. [ 153 ] On February 4, 2,000 birthday wishes gathered from people throughout the United States were transformed into 200 graphics messages at a celebration held on her 100th Birthday at the Davis Theater for Rosa Parks has been honored with a statue at the US Capitol in Washington Image: J. Scott Applewhite/AP/picture alliance The decision not to give up her seat on the bus was a logical consequence. 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 has been honored with a statue at the US Capitol in Washington Image: J. Scott Applewhite/AP/picture alliance The decision not to give up her seat on the bus was a logical consequence. Parks later said of the incident: “When that white driver stepped back toward us, The Rosa Parks Story, was released in 2002. The movie won the 2003 NAACP Image Award, Christopher Award, and The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute Of Self-Development was established in 1987 to offer job training for black youth. In 1999, Parks received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, the highest honor a civilian can receive in the United States. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) also sponsors an annual Rosa Parks Freedom Award. On 1 December 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Alabama for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. Discover how her act of defiance sparked the US civil rights movement. 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. Rosa Parks was, what she had to say about her activism and beliefs, and the impact she had on the United States. By refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus, Rosa Parks is known as “the mother of the Civil Rights Movement.” Rosa Parks taught us that even one voice can spark a movement and that fighting for equality is always worth it. Posted in History Lessons , Uncategorized An initiative of the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute for American Democracy, Civics for Life is an online resource center for multigenerational civics education, civil discourse and civic Parks found work as a seamstress and continued to fight for civil rights and liberties. And from 1965 until she retired, she worked as a secretary for John Conyers, an African-American congressman. In 1998, various US states introduced Rosa Parks Days — some on December 1, the anniversary of her arrest, others on February 4, her birthday. “To reckon with Rosa Parks, the lifelong rebel, moves us beyond the popular narrative of the movement’s happy ending with the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act to the long and continuing history of racial injustice in schools, policing, jobs, and housing in the United States and the wish Parks left us with—to keep on Rosa Parks' Bus . In 1955, African Americans were still required by a Montgomery, Alabama, city ordinance to sit in the back half of city buses and to yield their seats to white riders if the Rosa Parks occupies an iconic status in the civil rights movement after she refused to vacate a seat on a bus in favor of a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1955, Parks rejected a bus driver's order to leave a row of four seats in the "colored" section once the white section had filled up and move to the back of the bus. 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. In 1999, she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian honors in the United States. Parks was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996. Her legacy lives on through various memorials, including the Rosa Parks Library and Museum in Montgomery and the Rosa Parks statue in the U.S. Capitol. Cultural Impact Rosa Parks' statue was unveiled in National Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol, approximately 100 years after her birth on February 4, 1913. This statue depicts Parks seated on a rock-like formation of which she seems almost a part, symbolizing her famous refusal to give up her bus seat in 1955. The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development was co-founded in February 1987 by Mrs. Rosa Parks and Ms. Elaine Eason Steele, in honor of Raymond Parks (1903 – 1977). It is the living legacy of two individuals who committed their lives to civil and human rights. Raymond Parks married Rosa McCauley December 18, 1932.
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