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Rosa Parks Biography

Rosa Parks was a modest seamstress on her way home from work when she refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. That single act of defiance on December 1st 1955 is remembered as the start of the civil rights movement and she is respectfully remembered as the mother of the civil rights movement.

Although many had refused to comply with segregation laws before, Mrs. Parks' humility and strength of character made her an ideal candidate for the NAACP and Women's Rights Movement to rally behind and organize a boycott in protest of her arrest and trial. The boycott lasted 381 days, forcing the government to overturn segregation laws and also launched a then little known preacher and activist, Martin Luther King Jr.

Mrs. Parks' accomplishments leading up to her fateful bus ride, included receiving her high school diploma later in life, and registering to vote, both rare and major accomplishments for African-American women of her day. After she was thrust into the spotlight, Rosa Parks continued her commitment to civil rights by attending marches, co-founding the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development and publishing and speaking about her perseverance.

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Interesting Facts

• The Montgomery bus boycott was originally intended to last for only one day.
• In 1999 a lawsuit was filed against the music group Outkast and it's label LaFace Records for using Rosa Parks' name without her permission for the song "Rosa Parks".
• Rosa Parks body was laid in state at the U.S. Capital Rotunda in Washington D.C. after her death. She was the first woman and second African-American ever to receive this honor.
• Time magazine voted Rosa Parks as one of the 100 Most Influential people of the 20th Century.

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

CLASSROOM STUDY GUIDES

Rosa Parks: Mother of a Movement

Rosa Parks' decision to take a stand against racial segregation changed the course of American history.

Civil Rights Heroes

Discussion questions and more to help students learn about the actions of people involved in the Civil Rights Movement.

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