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Rosa’s Born
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was born on the 4th of February,1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama to James and Leona McCauley. She also had a little brother Sylvester, who was two years younger than her.
https://www.rosaparks.org/biography/ -
Rosa’s Education
For most of Rosa’s childhood, she was homeschooled by her mother. When she was 11, she starting going to Montgomery Industrial School for girls. For Rosa’s 9th grade she went to Black Junior High School, and for her 10th and part of 11th grade she attended Black Teachers College. Unfortunately, her education was cut short, as her mother had become sick. So after that she started cleaning houses for white people.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rosa-Parks -
Bus Boycott
One ordinary Thursday, the 42 year old Rosa Parks was coming back home from a long day work with the Montgomery Fair, and of course she was avoiding municipal buses, because it was too stressful to ride them.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/rosa-parks#rosa-parks-roots-of-activism -
Rosa stands up for herself
So, the segregation was very unfair on that bus. The black people had to sit at the back, & the white at the front; the bus driver had the authority to tell black people to give up their seat, so a white person could sit there. One day, the bus driver told the 4 rows of the “colourful” part of the bus to stand up. Rosa was one of those people, and the other 3 people did as they were told, but Rosa refused to; she was arrested
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/montgomery-bus-boycott -
Rosa and Raymond had some Troubles
After she refused to give up her seat on that one bus, that led to her losing her job. Both Rosa and her husband Raymond had lost their job early during The Montgomery Bus Boycott. As it went on, they couldn’t find a job that was good in Montgomery again. So, after that in the summer of 1997, they had no choice but to move to Detroit.
https://www.loc.gov/collections/rosa-parks-papers/articles-and-essays/beyond-the-bus/ -
Rosa’s Political Help in Detroit
Rosa did even more diverse things in Detroit, than in Montgomery. She contributed on prisoner support, helped run The Detroit Chapter of Friends of SNCC & helped in the growing movement against the U.S in Vietnam. Rosa did so much over the city, and she regularly took part in the Black Power Movement as well. When a magazine reporter asked her how she was able to do so much she modestly said “I do what I can.”
https://www.loc.gov/collections/rosa-parks-papers/articles-and-essays/beyond-the-bus/ -
Rosa’s Inspiring Speech
Rosa gave a speech on the 20th of May, 1989, and to me it looked very inspiring and important. She talked about how we have to learn to not have prejudice, & how we have to live to our full potential. One thing that I noticed was that she was very modest about herself, and she never had bias towards anyone, which is very good for any person, especially for someone who wants to make the world a better place.
https://www.mtu.edu/commencement/archives/pdfs/rosa-parks-commencement-address.pdf -
Rosa’s Death
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was diagnosed with Progressive Dementia in 2004, and in the following year died. She died exactly on the 24th of October, 2005 when she was 92. Three days after Rosa’s death, all of the Montgomery and Detroit buses had black ribbons reserving their front seats in her honour. Rosa Parks had a good live!
https://rosaparksfacts.com/rosa-parks-death/#rosa-dies-on-october-24-2005