ROSA PARKS “ Mother of Civil Rights Movement” By: Ebony Monroe

EARLY LIFE Rosa Parks was born February 4, 1913 as Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama, to a carpenter and a teacher. Moved to grandparent’s farm in Pine Level, at 2 with mom and brother. At 11 enrolled in Montgomery Industrial School for Girls, which was a private school founded by liberal-minded women from northern U.S. “Take advantage of the opportunities, no matter how few they were.” Felt opportunities were few, and they didn’t have civil rights, that it was just about survival. She went and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1928, at the age of 15.

NAACP After Alabama State Teachers College she settled in Montgomery with her husband Raymond Parks, who she married at 19, and they both joined the NAACP in 1943 where she was elected secretary. Worked for many years on many cases to improve the lot of African- Americans in the segregated south but didn’t get much publicity and not many successes. They also worked on getting voting rights for blacks, along with other civil rights causes. “It was more of a matter of trying to challenge the powers that be, and to let it be known that we did not wish to continue being second-class citizens.” -forced off of segregated bus for sitting in seat reserved for whites In 1944 she took a job on an un-segregated Maxwell Air-Force Base.

MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT On December 1, 1955, she incited a revolution by sitting down, beginning of Montgomery Bus Boycott. Bus incident led to the formation of the Montgomery Improvement Association led by minister of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The association called for a boycott of the city-owned bus company lasting 382 days, starting on Monday, December 5, 1955.

PURPOSE/REACTION OF BOYCOTT On Monday, December 5, 1955, the Women’s Political Council leaflet calling for a boycott of Montgomery buses was issued. Black passengers should be treated with courtesy. Seating should be on a first come, first serve basis, and African American drivers should drive routes primarily serving African Americans. King and his colleague Ralph Abernathy were arrested, violence began and continued, four churches and their homes were bombed, but the boycott continued.

CONT… 99 percent of African Americans didn’t ride the buses and thousand of dollars in revenue was lost. On November 23, 1956 was the Supreme Court ruling/decision. Across the region, in the South, blacks resisted “moving to the back of the bus.” MLK Jr., devotee of nonviolence, became known and acknowledged as Civil Rights Movement leader, and formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), with Ralph, in which was dedicated to fighting Jim Crow segregation. On July 2, 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House.

FINAL MOMENTS/AWARDS In 1957, her and husband moved to Virginia and then to Detroit, Michigan where she was a staff of U.S. Representative John Conyers in An annual Rosa Parks Freedom Award in her honor was established by the SCLC after husband death, founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development in 1987, a few years later her mother and brother died also. In 1979 she was awarded the MLK Jr. Award by the NAACP. In 1983 she was inducted into the Michigan’s Women’s Hall of Fame. In 1992 she was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscious Award and Rosa Parks: My Story autobiography was published.

CONT… President Clinton presented Rosa Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 and in 1998 she retired from the Representative office. Awarded the International Freedom Conductor Award by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in She received a Congressional Gold Medal in The Rosa Parks Library and Museum dedicated at Troy University in Montgomery, Alabama in She died on October 24, 2005 in Detroit at the age of 92. Rosa Parks' body allowed to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Statue of Rosa Parks placed in National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. in 2006.

CHANGE AGENT She knew what she wanted and believed in so she for what she wanted and actually took action. She was on the NAACP fighting for blacks to be treated the same and equally. She was courageous to not give up her seat on the bus which led to a boycott that ended racial segregation on public transportation. She started a program bringing awareness to the youth and fellow Americans, of the country and it’s history, so that they would know and be informed of the history of the civil rights struggle and continue to bring change in the world.

FEBRUARY 10, 2002

APRIL 18, 2012

QUESTIONS! When was a time you fought or stood up for something you believed in, and were you successful? Can you think of someone else, where one single act helped lead to a bigger change?

QUOTES “Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that held its ground.” “People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” “I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.” “Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” “Each person must live their life as a model for others.” “You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.” “I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.”