Rosa Parks Biography | Civil Rights Activist

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks

Born: February 4, 1913
Died: October 24, 2005
Place of Birth: Tuskegee, Alabama

Major Notes:

Rosa Parks is sometimes referred as the "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement."
She was one of two children born to James and Leona McCauley.
Both parents were hard-working; Rosa's father was a carpenter and her mother a teacher
She was raised by her mother and grandparents in Tuskegee and Montgomery, Alabama.
Rosa attended segregated schools and then enrolled in the Alabama State College, an all-black learning institute.
She married Raymond Rosa Parks in 1932 and both became actively involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
She worked at various jobs such as a seamstress, a housekeeper, and a saleslady.
In the 40's, Rosa helped as the NAACP chapter's youth adviser.
She also helped to create a voter registration drive in Montgomery and was then elected as Secretary of the Montgomery NAACP branch.
In the early 50's, Montgomery buses were segregated in that the whites sat at the front and the blacks at the back.
The white bus drivers would ask blacks to pay at the front of the bus and then step off and enter the back door to be seated at the back of the bus.
The incident which Rosa became famous for involved the bus driver asking her to please move to the back as a white woman needed to be seated.
She refused to move to another seat and the driver had her arrested but she was let out on bond that evening.
The NAACP had wanted a test case involving segregation of passengers on buses.
A bus boycott was started the next day and that same day Rosa refused to pay her fine.
She and her husband moved to Detroit and Rosa continued to be a spokeswoman for various causes.
In 1996, she was presented a Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton, the highest honor a civilian can be given.

For detailed research and more information, check out any of the following:
Black History Thompson Gale Resources Academy of Achievement Biography City of Detroit Scholastic Publishing

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Major Notes:

Rosa Parks is sometimes referred as the "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement."

She was one of two children born to James and Leona McCauley.

Both parents were hard-working; Rosa's father was a carpenter and her mother a teacher

She was raised by her mother and grandparents in Tuskegee and Montgomery, Alabama.

Rosa attended segregated schools and then enrolled in the Alabama State College, an all-black learning institute.

She married Raymond Rosa Parks in 1932 and both became actively involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

She worked at various jobs such as a seamstress, a housekeeper, and a saleslady.

In the 40's, Rosa helped as the NAACP chapter's youth adviser.

She also helped to create a voter registration drive in Montgomery and was then elected as Secretary of the Montgomery NAACP branch.

In the early 50's, Montgomery buses were segregated in that the whites sat at the front and the blacks at the back.

The white bus drivers would ask blacks to pay at the front of the bus and then step off and enter the back door to be seated at the back of the bus.

The incident which Rosa became famous for involved the bus driver asking her to please move to the back as a white woman needed to be seated.

She refused to move to another seat and the driver had her arrested but she was let out on bond that evening.

The NAACP had wanted a test case involving segregation of passengers on buses.

A bus boycott was started the next day and that same day Rosa refused to pay her fine.

She and her husband moved to Detroit and Rosa continued to be a spokeswoman for various causes.

In 1996, she was presented a Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton, the highest honor a civilian can be given.