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ROSA PARKS Civil Rights Leader Born Feb. 4, 1913 - Died Oct. 24, 2005

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.

A frequent question: "Who wrote this biography and when was it written?" Look on this Reference Citations Chart.

Work a Jigsaw Puzzle Online Crossword Puzzle Online Word Search Online Word Scramble Color Picture Online Online Jeopardy Online Biography "Who Am I?" Take the Test Online

PRINTABLES Rosa Parks Word Search Rosa Parks Crossword Puzzle Rosa Parks - Word Scramble Rosa Parks Study Sheet Worksheet Color a picture of Rosa Parks Print Rosa Parks Test

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 Myth and Fact in the Story of 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 ə 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!

The Time Traveler's Adventure: Rosa Parks; Not Giving In with Buffalo Biff and Farley' Raiders, Book with CD By James Collins / Toy Box Productions On December 1, 1955, seamstress Rosa Parks changed America forever when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white patron on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus. She was found guilty of disorderly conduct, which lead directly to the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott. Join the Raiders as they time-travel to the 50s getting a close-up view of this brave and humble woman and learn of her many following years working to educate and improve equal rights for America's citizens. An audio CD that comes with this book tells the story in a fun, educational way, and is loaded with exciting sound effects. Then the story repeats 3 times, leaving out one main character's part for the reader to fill in to become the character of their choice. Recommended for ages 5 to 9.

Rosa Parks Biography FunBook By Carole Marsh & Sherry Moss(Editor) / Gallopade International Everyone's favorite way to learn about America's bravest civil rights leaders! Easy-to-read information, facts, trivia, humor and activities are all included in Biography Funbooks! Ages 7-12. paperback.

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



seamstress
Pronunciation: 'sEm(p)-strəs
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-shən/ 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-shən
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-'tən-də
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)

Page Comments

Most Recent Comments   ( See more comments on this page )

2010-02-07 Rosa was a great woman she was strong and independent a real leader that one bus ride changed so much today we are not segregated but walk hand in hand with our brothers and sisters

2010-02-07 all i have to say i because of women like rosa parks we are strong and united today. thank you rosa, your spirit lives on in all women today!!!!!!!carrie, ansonia ct carrie marinelli (mar_carrie_AT_yahoo_DOT_com)

2010-01-19 i second the motion

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Biographies in this Series

Reference citations information for these biographies

Presidents of the United States	George Washington	John Adams	Thomas Jefferson	James Madison	James Monroe	Andrew Jackson
	Abraham Lincoln	Theodore Roosevelt	Franklin D. Roosevelt	John F. Kennedy	Ronald Reagan	Barack Obama
American Patriots	Benjamin Franklin	Francis Scott Key	Deborah Sampson
World Leaders	Constantine	Alexander the Great	Winston Churchill
Inventors	Alexander Graham Bell	Johann Gutenberg	Cyrus McCormick	The Wright Brothers	Henry Ford	Thomas A. Edison
	Sequoyah	Nikola Tesla
Explorers	Christopher Columbus	Meriwether Lewis	Robert Peary	John Muir	Matthew Henson	Sir Edmund Hillary
	Kit Carson	"Johnny Appleseed"
Women who made a difference	Clara Barton	Helen Keller	Florence Nightingale	Joan of Arc	Amelia Earhart	Annie Oakley
	Susan B. Anthony	Elizabeth Keckly	Harriet Tubman	Anne Frank	Eleanor Roosevelt	Madam C.J. Walker
Scientists	George Washington Carver	Sir Isaac Newton	Marie Curie	Louis Pasteur	Albert Einstein	Galileo
	Lise Meitner	Norman Borlaug
Educators	Noah Webster	Booker T. Washington	Aristotle
Physicians	Hippocrates	Walter Reed	Albert Schweitzer
Religious Leaders	Increase Mather
Athletes	Lou Gehrig	Wilma Rudolph	Tiger Woods	Michael Phelps
Civil Rights Leaders	Martin Luther King	Rosa Parks	Sojourner Truth	Frederick Douglass	Mary Ann Shadd Cary	James Forten
	Gandhi	César Chávez
Composers	Beethoven
Authors	Laura Ingalls Wilder	Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)	Ernest Hemingway
Artists	John James Audubon	Gutzon Borglum	Ansel Adams

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