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] Original : February 04, 2025 ; Who is Rosa Parks? 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. Rosa Parks was a Black civil rights activist whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man ignited the American civil rights movement. Because she played a leading role in the Montgomery bus boycott, she is called the ‘mother of the civil rights movement.’ 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 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 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. When Rosa passed away on October 24, 2005, at the age of 92, people around the world mourned her loss. Her body lay in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, an honor reserved for only a few great Americans. Why Rosa Parks Matters. Rosa Parks’ story is a reminder that courage doesn’t always come with loud speeches or grand gestures. 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 is best known for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, which sparked a yearlong boycott that was a turning point in the civil rights Rosa Parks was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on February 4, 1913. [1] Her parents were James and Leona McCauley. [1] She was mainly of African ancestry.One of her great-grandfathers was Scots-Irish and went to Charleston, South Carolina as an indentured servant. Students will analyze Rosa Parks' evolving activism during the Black Freedom Movement using primary source sets created from the Library of Congress exhibit "Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words.” Students will use the evolving hypothesis strategy to answer the focus question. 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 Nine months before Rosa Parks resisted segregation laws by refusing to leave her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus so a white person could sit down, a 15-year-old girl took the same courageous action in Montgomery and was arrested. ** FOR PRESS ONLY ** WHAT: The only opportunity for the media to see and photograph select original documents from Rosa Parks’ December 1, 1955 arrest. The National Archives will provide scanned images of the documents via CD-ROM. Diagram of the bus, showing where Rosa Parks was seated on December 1, 1955 Fingerprint chart of Rosa Parks, December 1, 1955 Police Report on the arrest of Rosa Rosa Parks sat tight. The police were called; Rosa was arrested. Rosa Parks being fingerprinted . She wasn't the first person to have been arrested in Montgomery for refusing to give up seats - Claudette Colvin, a fifteen year old girl, had been convicted for refusing to give up her seat to a white person earlier in the year. Claudette's case 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 [] Claudette Colvin was only 15 years old when she protested segregation by refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 2, 1955. That was nine months before Rosa Parks Black In Back December 1, 1955 — The day Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, wasn’t the first time she had encountered James Blake, the driver. One cold, winter day, twelve years earlier, Rosa ignored the “rule” saying blacks could use the back door only, stepped onto Blake’s crowded bus, and extend her hand with the fare. Angered by Rosa’s Most people know about Rosa Parks and the 1955 Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott. Nine months earlier, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on the same bus system. Rosa Parks showed us that true power often lies in stillness, during the quiet moments when one person decides to stand firm for what they believe. On that December afternoon in 1955, Mrs. Parks made a choice that would reshape American society.
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