Rosa Parks Sits For Civil Rights
Rosa Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an African American civil rights activist whom the U.S. Congress later called “Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement”. Rosa Parks became famous for refusing to obey bus driver James Blake’s order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. It was this stand against authority that helped launch the Civil Rights Movement.
Fact #1 - Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4, 1913. Her birth name was Rosa Louise McCauley.
Growing up in the deep south during the early 1900s must have been very difficult for Rosa Parks. It was a time of segregation and racism was still rampant.
Fact #2 - Rosa Parks went to Montgomery Industrial School for girls. At the age of fifteen Rosa graduated from All African American Booker T. Washington High School in 1928.
Rosa actually put herself through school and paid for tuition by cleaning classrooms. Even at such a young age she was determined to make a difference.
Fact #3 - On December 1, 1995 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man, as the law required; her arrest triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Rosa was found guilty of the offense and fined $10, plus $4 in court fees. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was one of the first major movements in the Civil Rights Era. The boycott lasted for 381 days and resulted in the ending of segregation on Montgomery’s buses.
Fact #4 - In 1996, Rosa Parks received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the American government can give a civilian.
Other notable recipients include Thurgood Marshall, Colin Powell, Arthur Ashe and Bill Cosby
Fact #5 - In 1987 the Rosa Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development was created.
The institute was created to help teach young people about Civil Rights history and to help them get involved in the communities.