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 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". Who Was Rosa Parks? 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 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 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. 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 Mr. Parks was an early activist in the effort to free the “Scottsboro Boys,” a celebrated case in the 1930′s. Together, Raymond and Rosa worked in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP’s) programs. 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 The activist’s refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Alabama helped fuel the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Parks smiles during a ceremony where she received the Rosa and Raymond had similar personalities and shared an interest in racial politics. They were early activists in the celebrated Scottsboro case and the Voters League in Montgomery. In 1943, she became the secretary of the Montgomery NAACP and, in 1949, its youth adviser. 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 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 Laketran rider sitting next to the seat marked reserved in honor of Rosa Parks. Throughout the week of Feb. 3, 2025, the first seat on Laketran and Geauga Transit buses will be reserved for a tribute commemorating Parks' commitment to public transit equity, and impact on the modern Civil Rights Rosa was determined “never to accept [Jim Crow], even if it must be endured.” In 1932 she married Raymond Parks, a barber and charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) branch, in Montgomery, Alabama. Rosa and Raymond had similar personalities and shared an interest in racial politics. Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist who refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her defiance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Its success launched nationwide efforts to end racial segregation of public facilities. In 1931, Rosa McCauley met and fell in love with a politically-active barber, Raymond Parks — the “first real activist I ever met.” When they began seeing each other, Raymond was working to free the Scottsboro boys, nine young men picked up for riding the rails, wrongly accused of rape, and sentenced to death in 1931 Alabama. Name: Rosa Parks (nee Rosa Louise McCauley) Born: 4 February 1913 Passed: 24 October 2005 Place of birth: Tuskegee, Alabama, USA Residencies: Tuskegee, Detroit Known for: Civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat . 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. On how, in addition to civil rights and voting rights, Parks was also an anti-rape activist. Rosa Parks, like many black women, was doing domestic work in her late teens. She's working for a white In 1980, following the deaths of her husband (1977), brother (1977) and mother (1979), Parks, along with The Detroit News, and the Detroit Public school system, founded the Rosa L. Parks Scholarship Foundation. Parks also co-founded, with Elaine Steele, the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in 1987.
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