Rosa Louise McCully Parks was born on February 4th, 1913, and died on October 24th, 2005. Parks, an American activist and an important figure in the civil rights movement was also known for her role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Parks is nationally recognized for her protest in 1955 on the Montgomery Bus, violating a city law against racial segregation on a local bus, which eventually sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Parks worked with the NAACP in Montgomery, participating in initiatives against racial injustice, for example: voter registration drives, legal challenges, and segregation laws. When she was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat, the NAACP provided legal assistance.
In 1957, Parks went on trial for her arrest and the black community was against the bus boycott. That night Rosa met Martin Luther King Jr. who joined the boycott. In 1957, fleeing the South to find safety and work, Parks and Raymond continued to fight for civil rights, peace, and equality.
In 1996 Parks was known as “the First Lady of Civil Rights” and received many awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1931, Parks met Raymond Parks. He was the first activist she had ever met. She volunteered to help people free a group of black children who were sent to prison for a crime they did not commit.
In 2003, the bus that Parks stood up on was put on display in the Henry Ford Museum near Detroit.
Parks had one sibling Sylvester Mccauley who died at 62. His cause of death was cancer in 1977. Parks died in 2005 and left an everlasting legacy as a freedom fighter. She is remembered as a pioneer of the modern-day Civil Rights Movement.
