Parks, Rosa

orig. Rosa McCauley

born Feb. 4, 1913, Tuskegee, Ala., U.S.

U.S. African American civil-rights activist.

She worked as a seamstress in Montgomery, Ala., where she was active in the NAACP (1943–56). In 1955 she was arrested after refusing to give her seat on a public bus to a white man. The resultant boycott of the city's bus system, organized by Martin Luther King, Jr., and others, brought the civil rights movement to new prominence. In 1957 Parks moved to Detroit, where she was a staff assistant (1965–88) to U.S. Rep. John Conyers. She was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999.

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▪ 2006

Rosa Louise McCauley  American civil rights advocate (b. Feb. 4, 1913, Tuskegee, Ala.—d. Oct. 24, 2005, Detroit, Mich.), became a symbol of the power of nonviolent protest after she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in the segregated South. Her action led to the 1955–56 Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott, recognized as the spark that ignited the American civil rights movement. Parks grew up in Alabama, briefly attending Alabama State Teachers College (now Alabama State University). She married Raymond Parks, a barber, in 1932. She worked as a seamstress and became active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), serving as secretary of the Montgomery chapter from 1943 to 1956. On her way home from work one day in 1955, Parks was told by a bus driver to surrender her seat to a white man. When she refused, she was arrested and fined, an action that motivated local black leaders to take action. The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., led a boycott of the bus company that lasted more than a year. In 1956 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court's decision declaring Montgomery's segregated bus seating unconstitutional. Parks moved to Detroit in 1957. She worked in the office of Rep. John Conyers, Jr., from 1965 until her retirement in 1988. She remained active in the NAACP and other civil rights groups. The Southern Christian Leadership Council established the Rosa Parks Freedom Award in her honour, and in 1979 the NAACP awarded her its Spingarn Medal. In 1987 she cofounded an institute to help educate young people and teach them leadership skills. Her autobiography, Rosa Parks: My Story, appeared in 1993. Parks received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1996) and the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor (1999).

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▪ American civil-rights activist

née  Rosa Louise McCauley 

born February 4, 1913, Tuskegee, Alabama, U.S.

died October 24, 2005, Detroit, Michigan

 African American civil rights activist whose refusal to relinquish her seat on a public bus to a white man precipitated the 1955–56 Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama, which is recognized as the spark that ignited the U.S. civil rights movement.

      In 1932 she married Raymond Parks, who encouraged her to return to high school and earn a diploma. She later made her living as a seamstress. In 1943 Parks became a member of the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and she served as its secretary until 1956. On December 1, 1955, she was arrested for refusing to give her bus seat to a white man, a violation of the city's racial segregation ordinances. Under the aegis of the Montgomery Improvement Association and the leadership of the young pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Martin Luther King, Jr. (King, Martin Luther, Jr.), a boycott of the municipal bus company was begun on December 5. (African Americans constituted some 70 percent of the ridership.) On November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court's decision declaring Montgomery's segregated seating unconstitutional, and the court order was served on December 20; the boycott ended the following day. For her role in igniting the successful campaign, which brought King to national prominence, Parks became known as the “mother of the civil rights movement.”

      In 1957 Parks moved with her husband and mother to Detroit, where from 1965 to 1988 she was a member of the staff of Michigan Congressman John Conyers, Jr. She remained active in the NAACP, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference established the annual Rosa Parks Freedom Award in her honour. In 1987 she cofounded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development to provide career training for young people. She was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1996) and the Congressional Gold Medal (1999). Her autobiography, Rosa Parks: My Story (1992), was written with Jim Haskins.

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