ROSA PARKS THE MOTHER OF CIVIL RIGHTS

ROSA PARKS THE MOTHER OF CIVIL RIGHTS

SEGREGATION IN THE SOUTH In Montgomery, Alabama where Rosa Parks lived there was segregation as there was across the South. There was racial inequality with signs that read For Whites Only and others that that read For Colored Only. As a secretary of her local NAACP (The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Rosa learned about social injustice. Her activism ultimately led her to a single act of disobedience that started a movement to end segregation.

THE DAY ROSA PARKS MADE HISTORY Rosa Parks would ride the bus to work every day and on December 1, 1955 while sitting in the first row of the middle section was told by the bus driver to give up her seat to a white person. She refused and was arrested. Later when asked if her feet were tired and that was the reason she didn t move that day she said: No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in. Her arrest started the Montgomery Bus Boycott. ROSA PARKS SITTING ON THE BUS

Rosa Parks was not the first black woman to ROSA WASN T THE FIRST FOUR OTHERS ARRESTED protest racial inequality on the bus. Fifteen year old Claudette Colvin was the first bus passenger to be arrested. Claudette and three other African- American women Aurelia Browder, Mary Louise Smith and Susie McDonald became plaintiffs in the Browder v. Gayle case that went all the way to the Supreme Court with a ruling that bus segregation was unconstitutional.

MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT Rosa Parks was released from jail the same day when the president of the NAACP Edgar Nixon bailed her out. She ended up getting a fine for breaking the law. After she was put in jail everyone wanted to protest for rights. Black people wanted to be equal in the eyes of the law and were sick of being treated unfairly and as someone told Rosa: No matter how rudely you were treated you had to keep smiling. With Martin Luther King Jr. chosen as leader, The Montgomery Bus Boycott began. A decision not to ride the buses which was supposed to last for one day lasted for 381 days. Rosa Parks was arrested a second time on February 21, 1956 with others in violation of a state law which was against organized boycotting.

ROSA S AWARDS&RECOGNITION In 1979 the NAACP awarded Rosa their highest honor, the Spingarn Medal and in 1980 they awarded her the Martin Luther King Jr. Award. On September 9, 1996 President Bill Clinton presented Rosa Parks the Presidential Medal of Freedom which is the highest honor that a civilian can receive. On June 15, 1999 when Rosa was 86 years old, President Clinton honored her with the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. Getting up to speak, Rosa said: This medal is encouragement for all of us to continue until all have rights.

LIFE AFTER MONTGOMERY After Rosa Parks was released from jail living in Montgomery became harder and harder. Rosa lost her job and received death threats. Her husband Raymond who she married in Montgomery in 1932 quit his job as a successful barber and together they moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1957. Rosa was to stay in Detroit the rest of her life where she worked for Congressman John Conyers, Jr. as an administrative aide. In 1992, Rosa wrote her autobiography called Rosa Parks: My Story.

ROSA PARKS: 1913-2005 Rosa Parks born on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama died in Detroit, Michigan on October 24, 2005 at 92. She was the first woman to have the honor of more than 30,000 walk past her coffin at the U.S. Capital. And on December 1, 2005 bus seats were left empty to honor Rosa on the 50th Anniversary of her arrest. If you visit the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan you can see the bus that Rosa Parks sat in on December 1, 1955.

ROSA S PLACE IN HISTORY Rosa Parks courage, determination, and refusal to give up her seat on the bus to a white person and her arrest started the Montgomery Bus Boycott and a fight to end segregation. She remains a symbol of freedom and equality today. Her act of disobedience led to Rosa Parks being called the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.

WORKS CITED Civil Rights Activists: Rosa Parks. Newsela Civil Rights Activists: Rosa Parks, A&E Networks Television, 2016, newsela.com/articles/bio-civil-rights-rosa-parks/id/19347/. Accessed 16 Feb. 2017. Here Is the Truth about What a Famous Black Bus Rider Did 60 Years Ago. Newsela Here Is the Truth about What a Famous Black Bus Rider Did 60 Years Ago, Washington Post, 2016, newsela.com/articles/rosaparks-myths/id/14655/. Accessed 16 Feb. 2017. Klein, Christopher. 10 Things You May Not Know About Rosa Parks. History.com, A&E Television Networks, 4 Feb. 2013, www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-rosa-parks. Accessed 1 Mar. 2017. Miss_rogue. BE031622 12/21/1956-Montgomery,A. 21 Dec. 1956. Rosa Parks. Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 18 Feb. 2016, www.biography.com/people/rosa-parks-9433715. Accessed 16 Feb. 2017. Rosa Parks. Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 18 Feb. 2016, www.biography.com/people/rosa-parks-9433715?authent_user=avonvalley%5clmundy&authent_user_sig=e2c59d604f7c5e5761d58849fc39a546&authent_sessi on=eb11c1376177ddc5de478cc2aff255ce&authent_session_sig=97ae9457736eda7739b37e34ab9c3250. Accessed 16 Feb. 2017.