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Birth
Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Alabama on February 4, 1913 (History, 2022). -
Marriage
In 1932 Rosa married Raymond Parks who was a long-time member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). (History, 2022). -
First act of Resistance
In 1943, about 12 years before her famous bus movement, Rosa refused to get on the same bus because of the rules in place for Black people to disembark and re-enter through the back door (History, 2022). -
Rosa joined NAACP
In December of 1943, Rosa joined the NAACP. She became the chapter secretary and worked along side of President Edgar Daniel Nixon (History, 2022). -
Background of Nixon
Nixon, who Rosa worked along side with in NAACP, was an advocate for Black people who wanted to register to vote, and also as president of the local branch of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters union (History, 2022). -
Rosa Parks Arrest
There were many segregation laws during this time that separated the whites from the colored. Rosa did not agree or want to follow these laws, so her famous movement was created this day. On her way home one day, Rosa refused to give her seat up for a white person. Rosa was placed in custody and arrested for this act of resistance (History, 2022). -
Boycott
Following Rosas bail release, Nixon and her came up with the idea that the colored population of Montgomery would boycott the buses on the day of Parks’ trial. Flyers and infographics were sent to black schools to inform everyone of what was going to happen, it was said that 35,000 flyers went out (History, 2022). -
Rosa Parks Trial
At the trial Rosa Parks was found "guilty of violating segregation laws, given a suspended sentence and fined $10 plus $4 in court costs" (History, 2022). But, outside of the trial the boycott of the buses was better than expected. They created the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to manage the boycott, and they elected Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as the MIA’s president (History, 2022). -
Supreme court rule
The bus boycott made its way all the way to the U.S. supreme court where the segregation laws were deemed "unconstitutional" (History, 2022). Rosa Parks became known as the “the mother of the civil rights movement" (History, 2022). -
Boycott ends
The day after the Court’s written order arrived in Montgomery, the bus boycott was ended (History, 2022). -
Life following the end of the movement
To get away from the harassment and threats, Rosa Park and her family moved to Detroit. Parks became an administrative aide in the Detroit office of Congressman John Conyers Jr (1965) and co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development (1987). Parks was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999, and when she died in 2005, she was first woman in the nation’s history to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol. (History, 2022)