Rosa Parks

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) na she be American civil rights activist. She be best known for ein refusal to move from ein seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, in defiance of Jim Crow laws, wich spark de Montgomery bus boycott. She sanso sometimes be known as de "mother of de civil rights movement".Richardson 2021, p. 92.

She join NAACP for 1943, den she be secretary there. Even though dem dey try stop Black people from voting, she still register after she try three times. She help fight cases of rape and racism like Recy Taylor and Jeremiah Reeves dem own.

Before she vex for di bus inside, other Black people too dey resist bus segregation, but when dem arrest Rosa in 1955, di community take am do test case. One group called Women’s Political Council start one-day boycott, den later di Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) carry am long, people no enter bus for 381 days! Dem win for court inside, wey bus segregation end.

Weytin she do come make am lose money plus suffer health wahala, so she lef go Detroit in 1957. Even for there, she no stop, she help civil rights people like Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, and dem. She support Black Power and fight against apartheid too. For 1987, she start one NGO with her friend to help youth.

When she die, dem honor am well-well, funeral for Montgomery, Washington DC, and Detroit. She chop plenty awards, like Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal, and she be di first Black person wey dem put statue for US National Statuary Hall.

 Early life 
Rosa Parks, wey dem born as Rosa Louise McCauley, come life top 4th February 1913 for Tuskegee, Alabama. Her mama be teacher, her papa be carpenter. Her name come from her two grandmas; Rose and Louisa. She get African blood, plus small Scotch-Irish and Native American from her great-grandpeople.Mace 2021, pp. 1–5. Her grandpapa from mama side be born from rape wey plantation owner ein son do.Theoharis 2015, p. 3.

She move go her grandparents demma farm for Pine Level as baby. Later, she help gather cottonBrinkley 2000, pp. 25–26; Schraff 2005, p. 16. for 50 pesewas a day, and learn sewing and quilting from her mama, she sew quilt at age 10 and dress at 11. She join African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church from early, and stay member till she die.Murphy, Larry G.; Melton, J. Gordon; Ward, Gary L., eds. (1993). "African Methodist Episcopal Church". Encyclopedia of African American Religions. New York; London: Garland Publishing. ISBN 0-8153-0500-1.

Dem time, Alabama start do serious segregation laws, especially after 1901. Jim Crow laws make Black and white people dey separate everything; school, transport, banks, even cemeteries. KKK demma violence too come add. Rosa say she hear plenty stories of Black people wey dem kill or go missing for no reason.Mace 2021, p. 20.

She go one-room school for AME church, but she get bad tonsils so she dey sick often. She go summer school plus get surgery later wey help am. She go Montgomery Industrial School for Girls, den Booker T. Washington Junior High. She later drop out to take care of her sick grandma and mama.Mace, Darryl (2021). Rosa Parks: A Life in American History. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-4408-6842-9.

After school drop-out, she work for her family farm and as housemaid for white people. Black women wey do that kind work dey suffer abuse, some even get raped. Rosa write one story about how one white man, “Mr. Charlie,” try abuse her, but she resist. Some say the story be allegory like symbol to show how she fight racism and abuse.Theoharis, Jeanne (2015). The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks. New York: Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0-8070-7692-7. Retrieved April 5, 2025.

For 1931, she meet her husband Raymond Parks.Theoharis 2015, p. 12; Mace 2021, p. 37. At first she no dey feel am, but later she like how he dey stand against racism. Dem marry on 18th December 1932. Raymond be one of di first activists she meet, and he own car, rare for Black man that time.Theoharis 2015, pp. 14, 28.

 Gallery 

 References 

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 External links 

 Rosa Parks Papers at the Library of Congress
 Rosa Parks Library and Museum at Troy University
 The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development
 Parks article by Frye Gaillard in the Encyclopedia of Alabama—Archived December 16, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
 Rosa Parks page by Arlisha Norwood on the National Women's History Museum website
 Rosa Parks bus on display at the Henry Ford Museum—Archived November 23, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
 Rosa Parks' Biography: A Resource for Teaching Rosa Parks—Archived January 30, 2025, at the Wayback Machine
Multimedia den interviews
 Appearances on C-SPAN
 "Civil Rights Icon Rosa Parks Dies"—National Public Radio
 "Civil Rights Pioneer Rosa Parks 1913–2005"—Democracy Now!
 "Eyes on the Prize; Interview with Rosa Parks" at the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, November 14, 1985

Odas
 Complete audio/video and newspaper archive of the Montgomery bus boycott—Archived December 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
 Rosa Parks: cadre of working-class movement that ended Jim Crow—The Militant
 Print media reaction to Parks' death in the Newseum archive of front page images from 2005-10-25.
 Photo of Rosa Parks Childhood Home
 Rosa Parks at IMDb


Category:1913 births
Category:2005 deaths
Category:Human
Category:20th-century African-American people
Category:20th-century African-American women
Category:21st-century African-American people
Category:21st-century African-American women
Category:Activists for African-American civil rights
Category:Activists wey komot Detroit
Category:Activists wey komot Montgomery, Alabama
Category:African-American activists
Category:African-American history of Alabama
Category:African-American Methodists
Category:Alabama State University alumni
Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent
Category:Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Detroit)
Category:Civil rights protests insyd de United States
Category:Community organizing
Category:Congressional Gold Medal recipients
Category:Deaths from dementia insyd Michigan
Category:Memoirists wey komot Alabama
Category:Methodists wey komot Alabama
Category:Montgomery bus boycott
Category:People wey komot Tuskegee, Alabama
Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Category:Protests insyd Alabama