(1913 - 2005)
Rosa Louise Parks was born February 4, 1913 to James and Leona
McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama. The family moved to Montgomery when Rosa
was eleven years old. She attended Montgomery Industrial School for
Girls where she learned many things she wasn't learning from her life in
the segregated South. In 1931 Rosa married Mr. Raymond Parks. The
Parks' were long-time activists in the pursuit of civil rights, long
before it was popular. Mr Parks was a freedom fighter for the Scottsboro
Boys in the 1930s. Both were involved in voter registration drives for
blacks. Rosa Parks was the secretary for the Montgomery Branch of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She was also
the Youth Director for the organization.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a bus as whe was coming home
from her work as a tailor's helper at a Montgomery department store. She
sat in the "colored section". As the bus began to fill with passengers,
there was a white man standing. The driver asked three black people to
stand so the white man could be seated. They moved. Rosa Parks remained
seated. She told the driver, "I am not going to move. I have paid my
money." The driver remarked, "I will have you arrested." She told him,
"Go ahead." Her action began the Montgomery bus boycott which lasted a
year and resulted in the United States Supreme Court outlawing the
segregation of public transportation. Her courageous demonstration
altered the course of American history and changed the face of America.
After that historic date in Alabama, Mrs. Parks continued her work in
the civil rights movement and received several citations for her
outstanding contributions. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference
sponsors the annual Rosa Parks Freedom Award. She received an honorary
doctorate from Shaw College in Detroit, Michigan. In 1976 Mayor Coleman
Young and the Detroit City Council renamed a main thoroughfare "Rosa
Parks Boulevard". In 1977 the United Automobile Workers awarded her the
Social Justice Award. In the same year she received the Humanitarian
Award from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. In 1978
the Progressive National Baptist Convention presented her the Martin
Luther King, Jr. Award.
In April, 1978 the National Committee for the Rosa L. Parks Shrine
was established. The purposes of the committee were to build a home for
Mrs. Parks, a museum and conference center. The center was to house Mrs.
Parks' personal papers and memorabilia as well as provide a site for
research and study of the civil rights movement. The Detroit Historical
District has granted the site on Rosa Parks Boulevard landmark status
and ground was broken in 1982. As Mrs. Parks was also interested in
programs which promote better relations between young people and senior
citizens, the National Committee for the Rosa L. Parks Shrine also
supports the continued development of the Rosa Parks Community Arts
Center in Detroit. This center, established in 1980, offers classes and
private instruction in art, music, dance, and drama to citizens of all
ages from Detroit's inner city.
Rosa L. Parks became known as the mother of the civil rights movement
in America. She has inspired many national black leaders: Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, E.D. Nixon, Atlanta Mayor Andrew
Young, Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Rev. Jesse Jackson of PUSH. They and
others have emerged to change the course of America. This petite,
modest, delicate woman has become a symbol of courage for all Americans
by demonstrating to the world the power of simple words, "I am not going
to move." [1983]