ROSA PARKS Civil Rights Leader Born Feb. 4, 1913 - Died Oct. 24, 2005 Enter your search terms Submit search form   Web gardenofpraise.com

When Rosa Parks was born, she was named Rosa Louise by her parents. Her father was a carpenter and her mother was a teacher. Her parents separated when she was two years old, and she with her mother and brother moved to her grandparent's farm.

Her mother, Leona, homeschooled her until she was eleven, then she attended a private school; the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls. Her training there helped to shape her views which would guide her later in life.

During this time in America blacks did not enjoy the rights they have today. Rosa remembered living in fear when she was a child as a result of the insults and prejudices against people of her race.

She attended college, but had to drop out to care for her grandmother who became ill. Later she cared for her mother. She married Raymond Parks, who was a barber. They were active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP (pronounced "N double A C P").

Rosa worked as a seamstress*. It was very tiring sitting at a sewing machine and sewing all day. To get to work she rode the bus.

Black people could not sit just anywhere they wanted in the bus. They had to sit in the back of the bus. If white people were already sitting in the front of the bus, the black person had to pay the fare, get off the bus, and reenter at the back door. Sometimes the bus driver just drove off and left them before they could get back on at the back door. If the bus filled up with people, the driver would ask a black person to move so he could reposition the movable sign which divided the black and white sections.

On December 1, 1955 after a hard day at work, Rosa was riding the bus home when the driver asked her and three black men to move to make more room in the white section. The three men moved, but Rosa refused. A police officer came, arrested her and took her to jail. She was bailed out that evening.

She didn't plan the incident, but when it happened, she decided to stand up for her rights. She was tired of being humiliated* and treated unfairly. She was not the first black person to refuse to move on a bus, but when the event happened to her, civil rights* leaders knew they had found someone to champion their cause. Rosa was a person who was above reproach, and people could not find fault with her character.

A group was formed and 35,000 handbills were distributed calling for a boycott* of the buses. This meant the blacks would refuse to ride the buses unless they were desegregated and they could sit anywhere in the bus. And refuse they did! For more than a year, 381 days, they boycotted the buses. They carpooled, rode in cabs, and walked to work.

There was a lot of violence and bombings. Martin Luther King rose as a leader during this time and his house was bombed. Black churches were destroyed. On November 13, 1956 the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation* was unlawful, and the city of Montgomery, Alabama had no right to impose it on people riding their buses. The next month the signs on the bus seats designating white and colored sections were removed. The boycott was over.

Rosa with Martin Luther King Jr.

Rosa lost her job and was unable to get another one in Montgomery. She and Raymond moved to Virginia.

During her lifetime she was awarded many honors for her courageous stand. There was the Rosa Parks Peace Prize in 1994, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999. A library and museum is dedicated to her in Montgomery, Alabama.

Rosa Parks passed away on October 24, 2005 at the age of 92. Her casket was placed in the rotunda* of the United States Capitol for two days. This is an honor usually only reserved for Presidents when they die. People waited in line for pay their respects.

Today people of all color can sit wherever they wish on buses throughout the nation due to the courage and determination of one woman, Rosa Parks.

Rosa Parks from the Academy of Achievement Rosa Parks information from Wikipedia Rosa Parks The Time 100 Rosa Parks an interview by Kira Albin Black History - Rosa Parks Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development Rosa Parks Lesson worksheet and quiz Rosa Parks Lesson printable study sheet The Florida Memory Project photographs documenting the civil rights movement My Own Books personalize an online story about Rosa Parks by inserting your name in the story At biography.com search for Rosa Parks Jailed. Scroll the panel for the "Video & Audio Results".

If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks By Faith Ringgold / Simon & Schuster Trade Sales If A Bus Could Talk, it would tell the story of a young African-American girl named Rosa who had to walk miles to her one-room schoolhouse in Alabama while white children rode to their school in a bus. It would tell how the adult Rosa rode to and from work on a segregated city bus and couldn't sit in the same row as a white person. It would tell of the fateful day when Rosa refused to give up her seat to a white man and how that act of courage inspired others around the world to stand up for freedom. In this book a bus does talk, and on her way to school a girl named Marcie learns why Rosa Parks is the mother of the Civil Rights movement. At the end of Marcie's magical ride, she meets Rosa Parks herself at a birthday party with several distinguished guests. Wait until she tells her class about this!

Heroes in American History, Grades 2-4 By Tracey West & Katherine Noll / Scholastic Teaching Enrich the social studies topics you teach with this collection of reproducible, read-aloud plays about Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Helen Keller, George Washington, Carver, Squanto, Neil Armstrong, and other American heroes. Plays come complete with background information, discussion questions, writing prompts, literature and Internet links, and engaging cross-curricular activities. A great way to help students meet the language arts and social studies standards.

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From Word Central's Student Dictionary
by Merriam - Webster
(Pronunciation note: the schwa sound is shown by &)



seamstress
Pronunciation: 'sEm(p)-str&s
Function: noun
a woman who sews especially for a living

humiliate
Pronunciation: hyoo'mil-E-"At, yoo-
Function: verb
to cause a loss of pride or self-respect : to humble
- hu mil i a tion /-"mil-E-'A-sh&n/ noun
Word History: In modern English we sometimes say that a person who has been
criticized or humiliated has been put down. We speak as though the person
had actually been forced to the ground or made to bow down in front of
someone else. The origins of the word humiliate itself also suggest the idea
of physically putting someone down to the ground.

civil rights
Function: noun plural
the nonpolitical rights of a citizen; especially : the rights of personal
liberty guaranteed to U.S. citizens by the 13th and 14th amendments
to the Constitution and by acts of Congress

boycott
Pronunciation: 'boi-"kaht
Function: verb
refusing to do business with someone or to buy a certain product.
(Look up the word at Word Central to find out how the term came to be called "boycott".)

segregation
Pronunciation: "seg-ri-'gA-sh&n
Function: noun
1 : the act or process of segregating : the state of being segregated
2 : the separation or isolation of a race, class, or group
(as by restriction to an area or by separate schools)

rotunda
Pronunciation: rO-'t&n-d&
Function: noun
1 : a round building; especially : one covered by a dome
2 a : a large round room b : a large central area (as in a hotel)

Biographies in this Series

Presidents of the United States	George Washington 1st U.S. President	John Adams 2nd U.S. President	Thomas Jefferson 3rd U.S.President
	James Monroe 5th U.S. President	Andrew Jackson 7th U.S. President	Abraham Lincoln 16th U.S.President
	Franklin D. Roosevelt 32nd U.S. President	John F. Kennedy 35th U.S. President	James Madison 4th U.S. President
	Theodore Roosevelt 26th U.S. President
American Patriots	Benjamin Franklin patriot and statesman	Francis Scott Key Star Spangled Banner	Deborah Sampson woman soldier in the Revolutionary War
World Leaders	Constantine Roman Emperor	Alexander the Great conqueror	Winston Churchill British Prime Minister
Inventors	Alexander Graham Bell telephone	Johann Gutenberg printing press	Cyrus McCormick mechanical reaper
	The Wright Brothers first airplane	Henry Ford Automaker	Thomas A. Edison electric light bulb
	Sequoyah Cherokee alphabet	Nikola Tesla 700 patents	.
Explorers	Christopher Columbus explorer	Meriwether Lewis explorer	Robert Peary Arctic explorer
	John Muir Naturalist	Matthew Henson Arctic Explorer	Sir Edmund Hillary Mr.Everest
	Kit Carson Indian agent	"Johnny Appleseed" orchardist	.
Women who made a difference	Clara Barton founder of the Red Cross	Helen Keller overcame blindness & deafness	Florence Nightingale founder of nursing profession
	Joan of Arc religious and military leader	Amelia Earhart Aviator	Annie Oakley sharpshooter
	Susan B. Anthony Suffragette	Elizabeth Keckly Seamstress	Harriet Tubman deliverer of slaves
	Anne Frank Diarist	Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian	.
Scientists	George Washington Carver botanist and educator	Sir Isaac Newton explained gravity and properties of light	Marie Curie scientist, physicist
	Louis Pasteur Biologist	Albert Einstein physicist, genius	Galileo Astronomer, physicist
Educators	Noah Webster writer of dictionary	Booker T. Washington leader and educator	Aristotle Greek philosopher
Physicians	Hippocrates father of medicine	Walter Reed discovered cause of yellow fever	Albert Schweitzer humanitarian
Religious Leaders	Increase Mather Salem witch trials	.
Athletes	Lou Gehrig baseball player	Wilma Rudolph Olympic gold medal winner	Tiger Woods golfer
Civil Rights Leaders	Martin Luther King civil rights leader	Rosa Parks bus desegregation	Sojourner Truth Former slave
	Frederick Douglass Abolitionist	Mary Ann Shadd Cary Civil rights leader	James Forten Inventor, abolitionist
Composers	Beethoven composer
Artists	John James Audubon artist and naturalist	Gutzon Borglum sculptor, Mount Rushmore	Ansel Adams photographer

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