Parks, Rosa

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{{epname|Parks, Rosa}}
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|subject_name=Rosa Parks
 
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|image_name=Rosaparks.jpg
 
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|image_caption=Rosa Parks in 1955, with [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]] in the background.
 
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|dead=dead
 
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|date_of_birth=[[February 4]], [[1913]]
 
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|place_of_birth=[[Tuskegee, Alabama|Tuskegee]], [[Alabama]], [[United States|USA]]
 
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|date_of_death=[[October 24]], [[2005]]
 
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|place_of_death=[[Detroit, Michigan|Detroit]], [[Michigan]], [[United States|USA]]}}
 
  
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'''Rosa Louise McCauley Parks''' (February 4 1913 – October 24 2005) was an [[African American]] [[Sewing|seamstress]] and [[civil rights]] [[activism|activist]] whom the [[Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress]] dubbed the "Mother of the Modern-Day [[American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)|Civil Rights Movement]]".
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[[File:Rosaparks.jpg|thumb|right|Rosa Parks in 1955, with [[Martin Luther King, Jr.|Martin Luther King, Jr.]] in the background]]
  
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Parks is famous for her refusal on December 1, 1955 to obey bus driver [[James F. Blake|James Blake]]'s demand that she give up her seat to a white passenger. Her subsequent arrest and trial for this act of [[civil disobedience]] triggered the [[Montgomery Bus Boycott]], one of the largest and most successful mass movements against [[racial segregation]] in history, and launched [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]], one of the organizers of the boycott, to the forefront of the civil rights movement. Her role in American history earned her an iconic status in American culture, and her actions have left an enduring legacy for civil rights movements around the world.
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'''Rosa Louise McCauley Parks''' (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an [[African-American]] [[civil rights]] activist whom the [[Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress]] dubbed the "Mother of the Modern-Day [[American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)|Civil Rights Movement]]."
  
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Known today as "the mother of the Civil Rights Movement," Parks almost single-handedly set in motion a veritable revolution in the southern United States, a revolution that would eventually secure equal treatment under the law for all black Americans. "For those who lived through the unsettling 1950s and 1960s and joined the civil rights struggle, the soft-spoken Rosa Parks was more, much more than the woman who refused to give up her bus seat to a White man in Montgomery, Alabama," wrote Richette L. Haywood in Jet. "[Hers] was an act that forever changed White America's view of Black people, and forever changed America itself." [http://www.gale.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/parks_r.htm]
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Mrs. Parks is one of the two individuals most often associated with the Civil Rights Movement in the South during the 1960s, along with [[Martin Luther King, Jr.|Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.]] She is famous for her refusal on December 1, 1955 to obey bus driver James Blake's demand that she give up her seat to a white passenger. Her subsequent arrest and trial for this act of civil disobedience triggered the [[Montgomery Bus Boycott]], one of the largest and most successful mass movements against [[racial segregation]] in history, and launched Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the organizers of the boycott, to the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement. Her role in American history earned her an iconic status in American culture, and her actions have left an enduring legacy for civil rights movements around the world. Mrs. Parks determined to fight for equality and resolution of oppression through peaceful, nonviolent, resistance. She understood that the necessity of maintaining her dignity through her public ordeals was crucial, as her stance was not for herself alone but on behalf of her entire race.
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{{toc}}
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Her role in the bus boycott has been the subject of debate. In the popular version, she was described as a "tired seamstress" on her way home from work, refusing to give up her seat on the bus. The true story of Mrs. Parks might more accurately be as described by Diane McWorther in ''A Dream of Freedom'': “The tired she felt was the kind of fatigue of the soul that has built for decades and finally sets off a revolution.”
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Certainly her act of resistance set in motion an irreversible cycle of change that would eventually secure equal treatment under the law for all African-Americans. Wrote Richette L. Haywood in ''Jet'' Magazine:
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<blockquote>"For those who lived through the unsettling 1950s and 1960s and joined the civil rights struggle, the soft-spoken Rosa Parks was more, much more than the woman who refused to give up her bus seat to a White man in Montgomery, Alabama. Hers was an act that forever changed White America's view of Black people, and forever changed America itself." <ref>[http://www.gale.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/parks_r.htm Rosa Parks] Gale Cengage Learning, ''Contemporary Black Biography,'' Vol. 35. (Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Thomson Gale.) Retrieved January 21, 2008.</ref></blockquote>
  
 
==Early years==
 
==Early years==
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Rosa Parks was born '''Rosa Louise McCauley''' in [[Tuskegee, Alabama|Tuskegee]], [[Alabama]] on February 4, 1913 to James and Leona McCauley, a carpenter and a teacher. Small even as a child, she suffered poor health and had chronic [[tonsillitis]]. When her parents separated, she moved with her mother to Pine Level, Alabama, just outside [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]]. There she grew up on a farm with her maternal grandparents, mother, and younger brother Sylvester, and began her lifelong membership in the [[African Methodist Episcopal Church]]. Her mother Leona homeschooled Rosa until she was eleven, when she enrolled in the Industrial School for Girls in Montgomery, where her aunt lived, and took academic and some vocational courses. Parks then went on to a laboratory school set up by the [[Alabama State University|Alabama State Teachers College for Negroes]] for secondary education, but was forced to drop out to care for her grandmother, and later for her mother, after she too grew ill.
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Rosa Parks was born '''Rosa Louise McCauley''' in Tuskegee, [[Alabama]] on February 4, 1913 to James and Leona McCauley, a carpenter and a teacher. When her parents separated, she moved with her mother to Pine Level, Alabama, just outside Montgomery. There she grew up on a farm with her maternal grandparents, mother, and younger brother Sylvester, and began her lifelong membership in the [[African Methodist Episcopal Church]]. Her mother [[homeschool]]ed Rosa until she was eleven, when she enrolled in the Industrial School for Girls in Montgomery, taking academic and vocational courses. Parks then went on to a laboratory school set up by the Alabama State Teachers College for Negroes (now Alabama State University) for secondary education, but was forced to drop out to care for her grandmother, and later for her mother, after she too grew ill.
  
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Under [[Jim Crow law]]s, black and white people were segregated in virtually every aspect of daily life in the [[Southern United States|South]], including public transportation. Bus and train companies did not provide separate vehicles for the different races, but did enforce seating policies that allocated separate sections for blacks and whites. School bus transportation, however, was unavailable in any form for black schoolchildren in the South. Parks recalled going to elementary school in Pine Level, where school buses took white students to their new school and black students had to walk to theirs: "I'd see the bus pass every day… But to me, that was a way of life; we had no choice but to accept what was the custom. The bus was among the first ways I realized there was a black world and a white world."
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=== Marriage ===
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In 1932, Rosa married Raymond Parks, a barber from Montgomery, at her mother's house. Raymond was a member of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] (NAACP), and at the time was collecting money to support the [[Scottsboro Boys]], a group of black men falsely accused of raping two white women. After her marriage, Rosa took a number of jobs, ranging from domestic worker to hospital aide. At her husband's urging, she finished her [[high school]] studies in 1933, at a time when less than seven percent of [[African-American]]s had a high school diploma.  
  
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Though Parks' autobiography recounts that some of her earliest memories are of the kindness of white strangers, her situation made it impossible to ignore [[racism]]. When the [[Ku Klux Klan]] marched down the street in front of her house, Parks recalls her grandfather guarding the front door with a shotgun. The Montgomery Industrial School, founded and staffed by white Northerners for black children, was burned twice by arsonists, and its faculty was ostracized by the white community.
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In December 1943, Parks became active in the [[American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)|Civil Rights Movement]], joining the Montgomery chapter of the [[NAACP]], and was elected volunteer secretary to its president, Edgar Nixon. She would continue as secretary until 1957. In the 1940s, Parks and her husband were also members of the Voters' League. Sometime soon after 1944, she held a job briefly at Maxwell Air Force Base, where federal rules prohibited racial segregation, commuting on an integrated trolley. Mrs. Parks later stated, "You might just say Maxwell opened my eyes up."
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She also worked as a housekeeper and seamstress for a white couple, Clifford and Virginia Durr. In the summer of 1955, the politically liberal Durrs became her friends, and encouraged Parks to attend, eventually helping to sponsor her at the Highlander Folk School, an education center for workers' rights and racial equality in Monteagle, [[Tennessee]]. Highlander was known throughout the South as a radical educational center planning methods that would see the total desegregation of the South. While at the school, Rosa determined to become an active participant in other attempts to break down the barriers of segregation.<ref name=Kohl> Herbert Kohl, ''She Would Not Be Moved: How we tell the story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott'' (New York: The New Press, 2005).</ref>
  
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In 1932, Rosa married [[Raymond Parks]], a barber from Montgomery, at her mother's house.  Raymond was a member of the [[NAACP]], at the time collecting money to support the [[Scottsboro Boys]], a group of black men falsely accused of raping two white women. After her marriage, Rosa took a number of jobs, ranging from domestic worker to hospital aide. At her husband's urging, she finished her high school studies in 1933, at a time when less than 7% of African Americans had a high school diploma. Despite the Jim Crow laws that made political participation by black people difficult, she succeeded in registering to vote on her third try.
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=== Early Influences ===
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Under [[Jim Crow law]]s, Americans of [[Europe]]an descent and those of [[Africa]]n descent were segregated in virtually every aspect of daily life in the South, including public transportation and public facilities. Parks recalled going to elementary school in Pine Level, where school buses took white students to their new school while black students walked to theirs: "I'd see the bus pass every day… But to me, that was a way of life; we had no choice but to accept what was the custom. The bus was among the first ways I realized there was a black world and a white world."
  
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In December 1943, Parks became active in the [[American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)|Civil Rights Movement]], joined the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP, and was elected volunteer secretary to its president, [[Edgar Nixon]]. Of her position, she later said, "I was the only woman there, and they needed a secretary, and I was too timid to say no." She would continue as secretary until 1957. In the 1940s, Parks and her husband were also members of the Voters' League. Sometime soon after 1944, she held a brief job at [[Maxwell Air Force Base]], a federally-owned area where [[racial segregation]] was not allowed, and rode on an integrated trolley. Speaking to her biographer, Parks noted, "You might just say Maxwell opened my eyes up." Parks also worked as a housekeeper and seamstress for a white couple, [[Clifford Durr|Clifford and Virginia Durr]]. The politically [[American liberalism|liberal]] Durrs became her friends, and encouraged Parks to attend, and eventually helped sponsor her at the [[Highlander Research and Education Center|Highlander Folk School]], an education center for workers' rights and racial equality in [[Monteagle, Tennessee]], in the summer of 1955.
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Though Parks' autobiography recounts that some of her earliest memories are of the kindness of white strangers, her situation made it impossible to ignore [[racism]]. When the [[Ku Klux Klan]] marched down the street in front of her house, Parks recalls her grandfather guarding the front door with a shotgun. The Montgomery Industrial School, founded and staffed by white Northerners for black children, was burned twice by arsonists, and its faculty was ostracized by the white community.
  
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Like many black people, Parks was deeply moved by the brutal murder of [[Emmett Till]] in August 1955. On November 27, 1955&mdash;only four days before she refused to give up her seat&mdash;she attended a mass meeting in Montgomery which focused on this case as well as the recent murders of [[George W. Lee]] and [[Lamar Smith]]. The featured speaker at the meeting was [[T.R.M. Howard]], a black civil rights leader from Mississippi who headed the [[Regional Council of Negro Leadership]].
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Like many, Parks was deeply moved by the brutal [[murder]] of [[Emmett Till]] in August 1955. On November 27, 1955, only four days before her famous refusal to give up her seat on the bus, she attended a meeting in Montgomery which focused on the Till case as well as the recent murders of George W. Lee and Lamar Smith. The featured speaker at the meeting was T.R.M. Howard, a black [[civil rights]] leader from [[Mississippi]] who headed the ''Regional Council of Negro Leadership.''
  
 
==Civil rights activism==
 
==Civil rights activism==
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Many people today have no concept of legalized, institutionalized [[racism]], organized racist groups, and personal hatreds faced by African Americans that created a need for a liberation movement. The story of oppression must be told as part of the true story of freedom. The story must be told of the risk and courage of the African Americans who originated the struggle for [[civil rights]] in the [[United States]] as well as the history and nature of [[segregation]].<ref name=Kohl/>
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=== Events leading up to boycott ===
 
=== Events leading up to boycott ===
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In 1944, athletic star [[Jackie Robinson]] took a similar stand in a confrontation with an Army officer in [[Fort Hood]], [[Texas]], refusing to move to the back of a bus. He was brought before a [[court-martial]], which acquitted him.<ref>[http://afroamhistory.about.com/library/blbio_jackierobinson.htm "Jackie Robinson Profile"], [[about.com]]</ref>   
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In 1944, athletic star [[Jackie Robinson]] took a stand in a confrontation with an Army officer in Fort Hood, Texas, refusing to move to the back of a bus. He was brought before a court-martial, which acquitted him.<ref> ''The New York Times Company - About.com''. Jackie Robinson Profile. </ref>   
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The NAACP had accepted and litigated other cases before, such as that of [[Irene Morgan]] ten years earlier, which resulted in a victory in the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] on [[Commerce Clause]] grounds. That victory, however, overturned state segregation laws only insofar as they applied to travel in interstate commerce, such as interstate bus travel. Black activists had begun to build a case around the arrest of a 15-year-old girl, [[Claudette Colvin]], a student at Booker T. Washington High School in Montgomery. On [[March 2]], [[1955]], Colvin was handcuffed, arrested and forcibly removed from a public bus when she refused to give up her seat to a white man. She screamed that her constitutional rights were being violated. At the time, Colvin was active in the NAACP's Youth Council, a group to which Rosa Parks served as Advisor.
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The NAACP had accepted and litigated other cases before, such as that of Irene Morgan ten years earlier, which resulted in a victory in the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] on Commerce Clause grounds. That victory, however, overturned state segregation laws only insofar as they applied to travel in interstate commerce, such as interstate bus travel.  
  
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[[Image:Rosaparks busdiagram.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Seat layout on the bus where Parks sat, [[December 1]], [[1955]].]]
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A boycott had been discussed as far back as 1949 by the Woman’s Political Council (WPC). WPC was a black women’s group which was working for full integration, not simply “better seating arrangements.” The [[boycott]] came about through collective decision making, willed risk and coordinated action; not simply by an angry individual who sparked a demonstration.<ref name=Kohl/>
  
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Colvin recollected, "Mrs. Parks said, 'Always do what was right.'" Parks was raising money for Colvin's defense, but when E.D. Nixon learned that Colvin was pregnant, it was decided that Colvin was an unsuitable symbol for their cause. Soon after her arrest she had been impregnated by a much older married man, a moral transgression that scandalized the deeply religious black community. Strategists believed that the segregationist white press would use Colvin's pregnancy to undermine any boycott. Some historians have argued that civil rights leaders, who were predominantly middle class, were uneasy with Colvin's impoverished background. {{citation needed}} The NAACP also had considered, but rejected, earlier protesters deemed unable or unsuitable to withstand the pressures of cross-examination in a legal challenge to racial segregation laws. Colvin was also known to engage in verbal outbursts and cursing. Many of the legal charges against Colvin were dropped. A boycott and legal case never materialized from the Colvin case law, and legal strategists continued to seek a complainant beyond reproach.They didn't publicize Colvin's case because she was pregnant. <ref>[http://www.slate.com/id/2071622/ "Is Barbershop Right About Rosa Parks?"], ''[[Slate]]'', [[September 27]] [[2005]]</ref>
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[[African-American]] leaders had prepared for years to stage a bus boycott due to the treament of blacks on the bus. The community in Montgomery were ready to support the boycott, they were just waiting for word from community leaders. Others had been arrested before Mrs. Parks, but each had to be carefully scrutinized; the NAACP understood that whoever they chose to stand behind would have to withstand the pressures of cross-examination in a legal challenge to racial segregation laws. Because of her integrity and leadership within the civil rights movement, Rosa Parks became the figurehead. She was well-known to all of the African American leaders in Montgomery for her opposition to segregation, her leadership abilities and her moral strength. Since 1954 and the Supreme Court’s decision in [[Brown v. Board of Education]] of Topeka, [[Kansas]], she had been working on the desegregation of the Montgomery schools.
  
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In [[Montgomery, Alabama]], the first four rows of bus seats were reserved for white people. Buses had "colored" sections for black people&mdash;who made up more than 75 % of the bus system's riders&mdash;generally in the rear of the bus. These sections were not fixed in size, but were determined by the placement of a movable sign. Black people also could sit in the middle rows, until the white section was full. Then they had to move to seats in the rear, stand, or, if there was no room, leave the bus. Black people were not allowed to sit across the aisle from white people. The driver also could move the "colored" section sign, or remove it altogether. If white people were already sitting in the front, black people could board to pay the fare, but then had to disembark and reenter through the rear door. There were times when the bus departed before the black customers who had paid made it to the back entrance.
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The day she was arrested the leadership called a meeting at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. They decided to begin their refusal to ride the buses the very next morning. They knew Mrs. Parks had the courage to deal with the pressure of defying segregation and would not yield even if her life was threatened. The next day the boycott began.
  
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For years, the black community had complained that the situation was unfair, and Parks was no exception: "My resisting being mistreated on the bus did not begin with that particular arrest…I did a lot of walking in Montgomery." Parks had her first run-in on the public bus on a rainy day in 1943, when the bus driver, [[James Blake (bus driver)|James Blake]], demanded that she get off the bus and reenter through the back door. As she began to exit by the front door, she dropped her purse. Parks sat down for a moment in a seat for white passengers, apparently to pick up her purse. The bus driver was enraged and  barely let her step off the bus before speeding off. Rosa walked more than five miles home in the rain.
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[[Image:Rosaparks busdiagram.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Seat layout on the bus where Parks sat, December 1, 1955.]]
  
 
=== Bus protest and arrest ===
 
=== Bus protest and arrest ===
 
[[Image:Rosaparks fingerprints.jpg|thumb|right|225px|Fingerprint card of Rosa Parks.]]
 
[[Image:Rosaparks fingerprints.jpg|thumb|right|225px|Fingerprint card of Rosa Parks.]]
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After a day at work at Montgomery Fair department store, Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus at around 6 p.m., Thursday, [[December 1]], [[1955]], in downtown Montgomery. She paid her fare and sat in an empty seat in the first row of back seats reserved for blacks in the "colored" section, which was near the middle of the bus and directly behind the ten seats reserved for white passengers. Initially, she had not noticed that the bus driver was the same man, [[James F. Blake]], who had left her in the rain in 1943. As the bus traveled along its regular route, all of the white-only seats in the bus filled up. The bus reached the third stop in front of the Empire Theater, and several white passengers boarded.
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In Montgomery, public buses were divided into two sections, one at the front for Caucasian Americans, meant for whites only. From five to ten rows back the section for African Americans began, which was called the colored section. When it was crowded on city buses, blacks were forced to give up seats in the colored sections to whites and move to the back of the bus. Black passengers had to pay their bus fare in the front, then get off the bus, walk to the back door and enter that way to find their seat. They could not simply walk from the front to the back after paying their fare. For years, the black community had complained that the situation was unfair, and Parks was no exception: "My resisting being mistreated on the bus did not begin with that particular arrest…I did a lot of walking in Montgomery."
  
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In 1900, Montgomery had passed a city ordinance for the purpose of segregating passengers by race. Conductors were given the power to assign seats to accomplish that purpose; however, no passengers would be required to move or give up their seat and stand if the bus was crowded and no other seats were available. Over time and by custom, however, Montgomery bus drivers had adopted the practice of requiring black riders to move whenever there were no white only seats left.
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On December 1, 1955, after a day at work at Montgomery Fair department store, Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus in downtown Montgomery. She paid her fare and sat in an empty seat in the first row of back seats reserved for blacks in the "colored" section. As the bus traveled along its regular route, all of the white-only seats in the bus filled up. The bus reached the stop in front of the Empire Theater, and several white passengers boarded. Following standard practice, the bus driver demanded that four black people give up their seats in the middle section so that the white passengers could sit. Years later, in recalling the events of the day, Parks said,
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<blockquote>"When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night."</blockquote>
  
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So, following standard practice, bus driver Blake noted that the front of the bus was filled with white passengers and there were two or three men standing, and thus moved the "colored" section sign behind Parks and demanded that four black people give up their seats in the middle section so that the white passengers could sit. Years later, in recalling the events of the day, Parks said, "When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night."
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Rosa acted with clear resolve to keep her seat despite being told otherwise. It was not a matter of simple fatigue after one tiring day. Not mere anger or stubbornness; she was confronting segregation head on with whatever sacrifice she had to make.
  
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By Parks' account, Blake said, "Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats." <ref>[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4973548 "Parks Recalls Bus Boycott, Excerpts from an interview with Lynn Neary"], ''[[NPR]]'', 1992</ref> Three of them complied. Parks said, "The driver wanted us to stand up, the four of us. We didn't move at the beginning, but he says, 'Let me have these seats.' And the other three people moved, but I didn't." <ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/24/parks.obit/ "Civil rights icon Rosa Parks dies at 92"], ''[[CNN.com]]'', [[October 25]] [[2005]]</ref> The black man sitting next to her gave up his seat. Parks moved, but toward the window seat; she did not get up to move to the newly repositioned colored section.<ref>Audio interview of Parks linked to from [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4973548&sourceCode=gaw "Civil Rights Icon Rosa Parks Dies"], ''[[National Public Radio]]'', [[October 25]] [[2005]]</ref> Blake then said, "Why don't you stand up?" Parks responded, "I don't think I should have to stand up." Blake called the police to arrest Parks. When recalling the incident for ''[[Eyes on the Prize]]'', a 1987 public television series on the Civil Rights Movement, Parks said, "When he saw me still sitting, he asked if I was going to stand up, and I said, 'No, I'm not.' And he said, 'Well, if you don't stand up, I'm going to have to call the police and have you arrested.' I said, 'You may do that.'"  
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During a 1956 radio interview with Sydney Rogers in West Oakland, when asked why she had decided not to vacate her bus seat, Parks said, "I would have to know for once and for all what rights I had as a human being and a citizen of Montgomery, Alabama."  
  
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During a 1956 radio interview with Sydney Rogers in [[West Oakland]] several months after her arrest, when asked why she had decided not to vacate her bus seat, Parks said, "I would have to know for once and for all what rights I had as a human being and a citizen of Montgomery, Alabama."
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Parks also detailed her motivation in her autobiography, ''My Story''
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<blockquote>"People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in."</blockquote>
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Parks also detailed her motivation in her autobiography, '' My Story''<ref>{{cite book | author=Rosa Parks, James Haskins | title=Rosa Parks: My Story | publisher=Dial Books | id=ISBN 0803706731 | year=1992 }}</ref>
 
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:{{Cquote|''People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.''}}
 
  
 
[[Image:Rosaparks policereport.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Police report on Rosa Parks, December 1, 1955, page 1.]]
 
[[Image:Rosaparks policereport.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Police report on Rosa Parks, December 1, 1955, page 1.]]
 
When Parks refused to give up her seat, a police officer arrested her. As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked, "Why do you push us around?" The officer's response as she remembered it was, "I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest." She later said, "I only knew that, as I was being arrested, that it was the very last time that I would ever ride in humiliation of this kind."
 
When Parks refused to give up her seat, a police officer arrested her. As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked, "Why do you push us around?" The officer's response as she remembered it was, "I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest." She later said, "I only knew that, as I was being arrested, that it was the very last time that I would ever ride in humiliation of this kind."
  
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Parks was charged with a violation of Chapter 6, Section 11 segregation law of the Montgomery City code, even though she technically had not taken up a white-only seat&mdash;she had been in a colored section. E.D. Nixon and Clifford Durr bailed Parks out of jail the evening of December 1. Nixon then persuaded her to allow her case to be used to challenge the city's bus segregation policy. That evening, Nixon conferred with Alabama State College professor Jo Ann Robinson about Parks' case. Nixon also consulted African American attorney [[Fred Gray]]. Together, they agreed that a long-term legal challenge of bus segregation should be underscored by a one-day boycott of the bus system. Nixon and Robinson went about setting the boycott into motion that evening. Nixon spent the late evening talking and drawing up a list of prominent black leaders from Montgomery for support.
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Parks was charged with a violation of Chapter 6, Section 11 segregation law of the Montgomery City code, even though she technically had not taken up a white-only seat; she had been in a colored section. E.D. Nixon and Clifford Durr bailed Parks out of jail the evening of December 1. Nixon then persuaded her to allow her case to be used to challenge the city's bus segregation policy. That evening, Nixon conferred with Alabama State College professor Jo Ann Robinson about Parks' case. Nixon also consulted African American attorney Fred Gray. Together, they agreed that a long-term legal challenge of bus segregation should be underscored by a one-day boycott of the bus system. Nixon and Robinson went about setting the boycott into motion that evening. Nixon spent the late evening drawing up a list and talking to prominent black leaders from Montgomery for support.
  
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Four days later, Parks was tried on charges of [[disorderly conduct]] and violating a local ordinance. The trial lasted 30 minutes. Parks was found guilty and fined $10, plus $4 in court costs.<ref>"Civil rights icon Rosa Parks dies at 92", ''[[CNN.com]]'', [[October 25]] [[2005]]</ref> Parks appealed her conviction and formally challenged the legality of racial segregation. In a 1992 interview with [[National Public Radio]]'s Lynn Neary, Parks recalled:
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Four days later, Parks was tried on charges of disorderly conduct and violating a local ordinance. The trial lasted 30 minutes. Parks was found guilty and fined $10, plus $4 in court costs.<ref> [http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/25/parks.obit/index.html Civil rights icon Rosa Parks dies at 92] ''CNN.com'', October 25, 2005. Retrieved January 21, 2008. </ref> Parks appealed her conviction and formally challenged the legality of racial segregation. In a 1992 interview with [[National Public Radio]]'s Lynn Neary, Parks recalled:
  
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:{{Cquote|''I did not want to be mistreated, I did not want to be deprived of a seat that I had paid for. It was just time... there was opportunity for me to take a stand to express the way I felt about being treated in that manner. I had not planned to get arrested. I had plenty to do without having to end up in jail. But when I had to face that decision, I didn't hesitate to do so because I felt that we had endured that too long. The more we gave in, the more we complied with that kind of treatment, the more oppressive it became.''}}
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<blockquote>"I did not want to be mistreated, I did not want to be deprived of a seat that I had paid for. It was just time… there was opportunity for me to take a stand to express the way I felt about being treated in that manner. I had not planned to get arrested. I had plenty to do without having to end up in jail. But when I had to face that decision, I didn't hesitate to do so because I felt that we had endured that too long. The more we gave in, the more we complied with that kind of treatment, the more oppressive it became."</blockquote>
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[[Image:Rosaparks policereport2.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Police report on Rosa Parks, December 1, 1955, 2]]
  
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[[Image:Rosaparks policereport2.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Police report on Rosa Parks, December 1, 1955, page 2.]]
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====Montgomery bus boycott====
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On Monday, December 5, 1955, a group of 16 to 18 people gathered at the Mt. Zion AME Zion Church to discuss boycott strategies. The group agreed that a new organization was needed to lead the boycott effort if it were to continue. Rev. [[Ralph David Abernathy]] suggested the name "Montgomery Improvement Association" (MIA). The name was adopted, and the MIA was formed. Its members elected as their president a relative newcomer to Montgomery, a young and mostly unknown minister of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Dr. [[Martin Luther King, Jr]].
  
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On Monday, [[December 5]], [[1955]], a group of 16 to 18 people gathered at the Mt. Zion AME Zion Church to discuss boycott strategies. The group agreed that a new organization was needed to lead the boycott effort if it were to continue. Rev. [[Ralph David Abernathy]] suggested the name "[[Montgomery Improvement Association]]" (MIA). The name was adopted, and the MIA was formed. Its members elected as their president a relative newcomer to Montgomery, a young and mostly unknown minister of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Dr. [[Martin Luther King, Jr]].
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That Monday night, 50 leaders of the African American community gathered to discuss the proper actions to be taken in response to Parks' arrest. E.D. Nixon said, "My God, look what segregation has put in my hands!" Parks was the ideal plaintiff for a test case against city and state segregation laws. While the 15-year-old Claudette Colvin, unwed and pregnant, had been deemed unacceptable to be the center of a civil rights mobilization, King stated; ''"Mrs. Parks, on the other hand, was regarded as one of the finest citizens of Montgomery; not one of the finest Negro citizens, but one of the finest citizens of Montgomery."'' Parks was securely married and employed, possessed a quiet and dignified demeanor, and was politically savvy.
  
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That Monday night, 50 leaders of the African American community gathered to discuss the proper actions to be taken in response to Parks' arrest. E.D. Nixon said, "My God, look what segregation has put in my hands!" Parks was the ideal plaintiff for a test case against city and state segregation laws. While the 15-year-old Claudette Colvin, unwed and pregnant, had been deemed unacceptable to be the center of a civil rights mobilization, King stated that, "Mrs. Parks, on the other hand, was regarded as one of the finest citizens of Montgomery&mdash;not one of the finest Negro citizens, but one of the finest citizens of Montgomery." Parks was securely married and employed, possessed a quiet and dignified demeanor, and was politically savvy.
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The connection between Rosa Parks’ arrest and the boycott was not instantaneous. This was a planned resistance, not a spontaneous emotional response. The boycott had been planned and organized throughout 1955. It mobilized so quickly because of such planning. In the months preceding Parks’ arrest, three others had been arrested for refusing to give up their seats. Because of Parks’ [[civil rights]] leadership in Montgomery she was trusted not to cave in under the pressure everyone knew she would be exposed to, including threats on her life.  
  
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====Montgomery Bus Boycott====
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The night of Friday, December 2, 1955, Jo Ann Robinson of the Women's Political Council (WPC) mimeographed over 35,000 handbills announcing a bus boycott. The WPC was the first group to officially endorse the boycott.
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[[Image:Rosaparksarrested.jpeg|thumb|left|225px|Deputy Sheriff D.H. Lackey fingerprints Parks on [[February 22]], [[1956]] during the bus boycott arrests.]]<!-- FAIR USE: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rosaparksarrested.jpeg for rationale —>
 
  
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The night of Friday, [[December 2]], [[1955]], [[Jo Ann Robinson]] of the [[Women's Political Council]] (WPC) [[mimeograph|mimeographed]] over 35,000 handbills announcing a bus boycott. The WPC was the first group to officially endorse the boycott.
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On Sunday, December 4, 1955, plans for the [[Montgomery Bus Boycott]] were announced at black churches in the area, and a front-page article in ''The Montgomery Advertiser'' helped spread the word. At a church rally that night, attendees unanimously agreed to continue the boycott until they were treated with the level of courtesy they expected, until black drivers were hired, and until seating in the middle of the bus was handled on a first-come basis.
  
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On Sunday, [[December 4]], [[1955]], plans for the [[Montgomery Bus Boycott]] were announced at black churches in the area, and a front-page article in ''[[The Montgomery Advertiser]]'' helped spread the word. At a church rally that night, attendees unanimously agreed to continue the boycott until they were treated with the level of courtesy they expected, until black drivers were hired, and until seating in the middle of the bus was handled on a first-come basis.
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The day of Parks' trial, Monday, December 5, 1955, the WPC distributed the 35,000 leaflets. The handbill read, "We are…asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial…. You can afford to stay out of school for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown-ups, don't ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off the buses Monday."<ref>Rita Dove, [http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/parks01.html Heroes and Icons: Rosa Parks] The TIME 100: ''TIME'' Magazine, June 14, 1999. Retrieved January 21, 2008. </ref>
  
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The day of Parks' trial, Monday, [[December 5]], [[1955]], the WPC distributed the 35,000 leaflets. The handbill read, "We are…asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial…. You can afford to stay out of school for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown-ups, don't ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off the buses Monday."<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/parks01.html "Heroes and Icons: Rosa Parks"], ''[[Time.com]]'', [[June 14]] [[1999]]</ref>
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It rained that day, but the black community persevered in their boycott. Some rode in carpools, while others traveled in black-operated cabs that charged the same fare as the bus, 10 cents. Most of the remainder of the 40,000 black commuters walked, some as far as twenty miles. In the end, the boycott lasted for 381 days. Dozens of public buses stood idle for months, severely damaging the bus transit company's finances, until the law requiring segregation on public buses was lifted.
  
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It rained that day, but the black community persevered in their boycott. Some rode in carpools, while others traveled in black-operated cabs that charged the same fare as the bus, 10 cents. Most of the remainder of the 40,000 black commuters walked, some as far as 20 miles. In the end, the boycott lasted for 382 days. Dozens of public buses stood idle for months, severely damaging the bus transit company's finances, until the law requiring segregation on public buses was lifted.
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Some segregationists retaliated with [[terrorism]]. Black churches were burned or dynamited. Martin Luther King's home was bombed in the early morning hours of January 30, 1956, and E.D. Nixon's home was also attacked. However, the black community's bus boycott marked one of the largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation. It sparked many other protests, and it catapulted King to the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement.
  
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Some segregationists retaliated with terrorism.  Black churches were burned or dynamited. Martin Luther King's home was bombed in the early morning hours of [[January 30]], [[1956]], and E.D. Nixon's home was also attacked. However, the black community's bus boycott marked one of the largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation. It sparked many other protests, and it catapulted King to the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement.
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Through her role in sparking the boycott, Rosa Parks played an important part in internationalizing the awareness of the plight of African Americans and the civil rights struggle. King wrote in his 1958 book ''Stride Toward Freedom'' that Parks' arrest was the precipitating factor, rather than the cause, of the protest:  
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<blockquote>"The cause lay deep in the record of similar injustices…. Actually, no one can understand the action of Mrs. Parks unless he realizes that eventually the cup of endurance runs over, and the human personality cries out, 'I can take it no longer.'"</blockquote>
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Through her role in sparking the boycott, Rosa Parks played an important part in internationalizing the awareness of the plight of African Americans and the civil rights struggle. King wrote in his 1958 book ''[[Stride Toward Freedom]]'' that Parks' arrest was the precipitating factor, rather than the cause, of the protest: "The cause lay deep in the record of similar injustices…. Actually, no one can understand the action of Mrs. Parks unless he realizes that eventually the cup of endurance runs over, and the human personality cries out, 'I can take it no longer.'"
 
  
 
The Montgomery bus boycott was also the inspiration for the bus boycott in the township of Alexandria in [[South Africa]] which was one of the key events in the radicalization of the black majority of that country under the leadership of the [[African National Congress]].
 
The Montgomery bus boycott was also the inspiration for the bus boycott in the township of Alexandria in [[South Africa]] which was one of the key events in the radicalization of the black majority of that country under the leadership of the [[African National Congress]].
  
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===Browder v. Gayle===
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===The legal end to segregation===
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Immediately after the initiation of the bus boycott, legal strategists began to discuss the need for a federal lawsuit to challenge city and state bus segregation laws, and approximately two months after the boycott began, they reconsidered Claudette Colvin's case. Attorneys [[Fred Gray]], [[E.D. Nixon]] and [[Clifford Durr]] (a white lawyer who, with his wife, Virginia, was an activist in the Civil Rights Movement and a former employer of Parks) searched for the ideal case law to challenge the constitutional legitimacy of city and state bus segregation laws. Parks' case was not used as the basis for the federal lawsuit because, as a criminal case, it would have had to make its way through the state criminal appeals process before a federal appeal could have been filed. City and state officials could have delayed a final rendering for years. Furthermore, attorney Durr believed it possible that the outcome would merely have been the vacating of Parks' conviction, with no changes in segregation laws.<ref>"The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott", ''[[Montgomery Advertiser]]'', 2005</ref>
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Immediately after the initiation of the bus boycott, legal strategists began to discuss the need for a federal lawsuit to challenge city and state bus segregation laws, and approximately two months after the boycott began, they reconsidered Claudette Colvin's case. Attorneys Fred Gray, E.D. Nixon and Clifford Durr searched for the ideal case law to challenge the constitutional legitimacy of city and state bus segregation laws. Parks' case was not used as the basis for the federal lawsuit because, as a criminal case, it would have had to make its way through the state criminal appeals process before a federal appeal could have been filed. City and state officials could have delayed a final rendering for years. Furthermore, attorney Durr believed it possible that the outcome would merely have been the vacating of Parks' conviction, with no changes in segregation laws. <ref> [http://www.montgomeryboycott.com/frontpage.htm They Changed the World: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott] ''Montgomery Advertiser,'' 2005. Retrieved January 21, 2008. </ref>
  
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Gray researched for a better lawsuit, consulting with NAACP legal counsels Robert Carter and [[Thurgood Marshall]], who would later become U.S. solicitor general and a U.S. Supreme Court justice. Gray approached Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith, all women who had had disputes involving the Montgomery bus system the previous year. They all agreed to become plaintiffs in a civil action law suit. Browder was a Montgomery housewife, Gayle the mayor of Montgomery. [[February 1]], [[1956]], the case of ''[[Browder v. Gayle]]'' was filed in U.S. District Court by Fred Gray. It was ''Browder v. Gayle'' that brought segregation to an end on public buses.<ref>[http://www.tolerance.org/teach/activities/activity.jsp?cid=388 "Browder v. Gayle: The Women Before Rosa Parks"], ''[[Tolerance.org]]'', 2005</ref>
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Gray researched for a better lawsuit, consulting with NAACP legal counsels Robert Carter and [[Thurgood Marshall]], who would later become U.S. solicitor general and a U.S. Supreme Court justice. Gray approached Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith, all women who had had disputes involving the Montgomery bus system the previous year. They all agreed to become plaintiffs in a civil action law suit. Browder was a Montgomery housewife, Gayle the mayor of Montgomery. February 1, 1956, the case of ''Browder v. Gayle'' was filed in U.S. District Court by Fred Gray. It was ''Browder v. Gayle'' that brought segregation to an end on public buses. <ref> Tim Walker, [http://www.tolerance.org/teach/activities/activity.jsp?cid=388 Browder v. Gayle: The Women Before Rosa Parks] ''Tolerance.org'', 2005. Retrieved January 21, 2008. </ref>
  
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[[June 19]], [[1956]], the U.S. District Court's three-judge panel ruled that Section 301 (31a, 31b and 31c) of Title 48, Code of Alabama, 1940, as amended, and Sections 10 and 11 of Chapter 6 of the Code of the City of Montgomery, 1952, "deny and deprive plaintiffs and other Negro citizens similarly situated of the equal protection of the laws and due process of law secured by the Fourteenth Amendment" (''Browder v. Gayle'', 1956). The court essentially decided that the precedent of ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' (1954) could be applied to ''Browder v. Gayle''. [[November 13]], [[1956]], the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] outlawed racial segregation on buses, deeming it [[Constitutionality|unconstitutional]]. The court order arrived in Montgomery, Alabama, [[December 20]], [[1956]], and the bus boycott ended the next day. However, more violence erupted following the court order, as snipers fired into buses and into King's home, and terrorists threw bombs into churches and into the homes of many church ministers.<ref>{{note_label|supremecourtandmove|10|a}} "Rosa Parks, 92, Founding Symbol of Civil Rights Movement, Dies", ''[[New York Times]]'', [[October 25]] [[2005]]</ref>
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June 19, 1956, the U.S. District Court's three-judge panel ruled that Section 301 (31a, 31b and 31c) of Title 48, Code of Alabama, 1940, as amended, and Sections 10 and 11 of Chapter 6 of the Code of the City of Montgomery, 1952, "deny and deprive plaintiffs and other Negro citizens similarly situated of the equal protection of the laws and due process of law secured by the Fourteenth Amendment" (''Browder v. Gayle'', 1956). The court essentially decided that the precedent of ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' (1954) could be applied to ''Browder v. Gayle''. November 13, 1956, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] outlawed racial segregation on buses, deeming it unconstitutional. The court order arrived in Montgomery, Alabama, December 20, 1956, and the bus boycott ended the next day. However, more violence erupted following the court order, as snipers fired into buses and into King's home, and terrorists threw bombs into churches and into the homes of many church ministers. <ref> E.R. Shipp, [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/national/25parks.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin Rosa Parks, 92, Founding Symbol of Civil Rights Movement, Dies] ''New York Times'', October 25, 2005. Retrieved January 21, 2008. </ref>
  
 
==Later years==
 
==Later years==
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[[Image:Rosaparks bus.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Rosa Parks on a [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]] bus on [[December 21]], [[1956]], the day Montgomery's public transportation system was legally integrated. Behind Parks is Nicholas C. Chriss, a UPI reporter covering the event.]]
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After her arrest, Rosa Parks became an icon of the [[Civil Rights Movement]], but suffered hardships as a result. She lost her job, and her husband quit his job after his boss forbade him from talking about his wife or the legal case. Parks traveled and spoke extensively. In 1957, Raymond and Rosa Parks left Montgomery for Hampton, [[Virginia]]&mdash;mostly because she was unable to find work, but also because of disagreements with King and other leaders of Montgomery's struggling civil rights movement. Later that year, at the urging of her younger brother Sylvester Parks, she, her husband Raymond, and her mother Leona McCauley, moved to Detroit, [[Michigan]].
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After her arrest, Parks became an icon of the Civil Rights Movement, but suffered hardships as a result. She lost her job at the department store, and her husband quit his job after his boss forbade him from talking about his wife or the legal case. Parks traveled and spoke extensively. In 1957, Raymond and Rosa Parks left Montgomery for Hampton, Virginia&mdash;mostly because she was unable to find work, but also because of disagreements with King and other leaders of Montgomery's struggling civil rights movement. In Hampton, she found a job as a hostess in an inn at black [[Hampton University|Hampton Institute]]. Later that year, after the urging of her younger brother Sylvester Parks, her husband Raymond, and her mother Leona McCauley, moved to [[Detroit, Michigan]].
 
  
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Parks worked as a seamstress until 1965, when African-American [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] [[John Conyers]] ([[Democratic Party of the United States|D]]-[[Michigan]]) hired her as a secretary and receptionist for his congressional office in Detroit. She held this position until she retired in 1988.{{ref_label|supremecourtandmove|10|a}} In a telephone interview with CNN on [[October 24]] [[2005]], Conyers recalled, "You treated her with deference because she was so quiet, so serene&mdash;just a very special person…. There is only one Rosa Parks." Later in life, Parks also served as a member of the Board of Advocates of the [[Planned Parenthood]] Federation of America.
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Parks worked as a seamstress until 1965, when African-American [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] John Conyers D-Michigan hired her as a secretary and receptionist for his congressional office in Detroit. She held this position until she retired in 1988. In a telephone interview with CNN on October 24 2005, Conyers recalled, "You treated her with deference because she was so quiet, so serene&mdash;just a very special person…. There is only one Rosa Parks." Later in life, Parks also served as a member of the Board of Advocates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
  
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Rosa Parks and Elaine Eason Steele co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in February 1987, in honor of Rosa's husband, who died from cancer in 1977. The institute runs the "Pathways to Freedom" bus tours, which introduce young people to important civil rights and [[Underground Railroad]] sites throughout the country. On a 1997 trip, the Pathways to Freedom bus drove into a river, resulting in the death of Adisa Foluke. Foluke, who was referred to as Parks' adopted grandson, also had been a [[chaperon]] on the bus. Several others were injured.
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Rosa Parks and Elaine Eason Steele co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in February 1987, in honor of Rosa's husband, who died from [[cancer]] in 1977. The institute runs the "Pathways to Freedom" bus tours, which introduce young people to important civil rights and [[Underground Railroad]] sites throughout the country.  
  
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[[Image:Rosaparks 1964.jpg|thumb|left|Rosa Parks in 1964.]]
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In 1992, Parks published ''Rosa Parks: My Story,'' an autobiography aimed at younger readers which details her life leading up to her decision not to give up her seat. In it she said:
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In 1992, Parks published ''Rosa Parks: My Story'', an autobiography aimed at younger readers which details her life leading up to her decision not to give up her seat. In 1995, she published her memoirs, titled ''Quiet Strength'', which focuses on the role that her [[faith]] had played in her life.
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<blockquote> “I have spent over half my life teaching love and brotherhood, and I feel that it is better to continue to try to teach or live equality and love than it would be to have hatred or prejudice. Everyone living together in peace and harmony and love - that’s the goal that we seek, and I think that the more people there are who reach that state of mind, the better we will all be.”</blockquote> 
  
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[[August 30]], [[1994]], Joseph Skipper, an African-American drug addict, attacked the then 81-year-old Parks in her home. The incident sparked outrage throughout America. After his arrest, Skipper said that he had not known he was in Parks' home, but recognized her after entering. Skipper asked, "Hey, aren't you Rosa Parks?" to which she replied, "Yes." She handed him $3 when he demanded money, and an additional $50 when he demanded more. Before fleeing, Skipper struck Parks in the face.<ref>"Assailant Recognized Rosa Parks", ''[[Detroit Free Press]]'', [[September 3]] [[1994]]</ref> Skipper was arrested and charged with various breaking and entering offenses against Parks and other neighborhood victims. He admitted guilt and, on [[August 8]], [[1995]], was sentenced to eight to 15 years in prison.<ref>"Man Gets Prison Term For Attack on Rosa Parks", ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'', [[August 8]] [[1995]]</ref>
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In 1995, she published her memoirs, titled ''Quiet Strength,'' which focuses on the role that her faith had played in her life.
  
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A comedic scene in the 2002 film ''[[Barbershop (movie)|Barbershop]]'' featured a cantankerous barber, played by [[Cedric the Entertainer]], arguing with co-workers and shop patrons that other African Americans before Parks had resisted giving up their seats in defiance of Jim Crow laws, and that she had received undeserved fame because of her status as an NAACP secretary. Activists [[Jesse Jackson]] and [[Al Sharpton]] launched a boycott against the film, contending it was "disrespectful", but then-NAACP president Kweisi Mfume stated he thought the controversy was "overblown."<ref>{{cite web | title=CNN.com - Image Awards rekindle 'Barbershop' controversy - Mar. 9, 2003 | url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/03/08/image.awards.ap/ | accessdate=December 4 | accessyear=2005 }}</ref> The scene also offended Parks, who boycotted the NAACP 2003 [[NAACP Image Award|Image Awards]] ceremony, which Cedric hosted. "Barbershop" received nominations in four awards categories that, including a "Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture" nomination for Cedric.  He did not win in that category, however, but won an award for his work as a supporting actor in the television series ''[[The Proud Family]]''.
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== Death and funeral ==
  
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===Lawsuits===
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Rosa Parks resided in Detroit until she died at the age of 92 on October 24, 2005 in her apartment on the east side of the city. She had been diagnosed with progressive [[dementia]] in 2004.
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In March 1999, a lawsuit was filed on Parks' behalf against American hip-hop duo [[OutKast]] and [[LaFace Records]], claiming that the group had illegally used Rosa Parks' name without her permission for the song "Rosa Parks", the most successful radio single of OutKast's 1998 album ''[[Aquemini]]''. The song's chorus, which Parks' legal defense felt was disrespectful to Parks, is as follows: "Ah ha, hush that fuss / Everybody move to the back of the bus / Do you want to bump and slump with us / We the type of people make the club get crunk."
 
  
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The case was dismissed in November 1999 by US District Court Judge Barbara Hackett. In August 2000, Parks hired attorney [[Johnnie Cochran]] to help her appeal the district court's decision. Cochran argued that the song did not have First Amendment protection because, although its title carried Parks' name, its lyrics were not about her. However, U.S. District Judge Barbara Hackett upheld OutKast's right to use Parks' name in November 1999, and Parks took the case to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where some charges were remanded for further trial.
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City officials in Montgomery and Detroit announced on October 27 that the front seats of their city buses would be reserved with black ribbons in honor of Parks until her funeral. Parks' coffin was flown to Montgomery, Alabama and taken in a horse-drawn hearse to the St. Paul [[African Methodist Episcopal]] (AME) church, where she lay in repose at the altar, dressed in the uniform of a church deaconess, on October 29. A memorial service was held there the following morning at which [[Secretary of State]] [[Condoleezza Rice]] stated that if it were not for Rosa Parks, she would probably have never become the Secretary of State.  
  
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Parks' attorneys and caretaker, Elaine Steele, refiled in August 2004, and named [[BMG]], [[Arista Records]] and LaFace Records as the defendants, along with several parties not directly connected to the song, including [[Barnes & Noble]] and [[Borders Group]] for selling the song, and Gregory Dark and Braddon Mendelson, the director and producer, respectively, of the 1998 music video, asking for $5 billion in damages.
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In the evening the casket was transported to [[Washington, D.C.]] and taken aboard a bus similar to the one in which she made her protest, to lay in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, making her the first woman and second African American ever to receive this honor. An estimated 50,000 people viewed the casket there, with the event being broadcast on television. This was followed by another memorial service at St. Paul AME church in Washington on the afternoon of October 31. For two days, she lay in repose at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan.  
  
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In October 2004, U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh appointed [[Dennis Archer]], a former mayor of Detroit and Michigan Supreme Court justice, as guardian of legal matters for Parks after her family expressed concerns that her caretakers and her lawyers were pursuing the case based on their own financial interest.<ref>"'I understand I am a symbol, but I have never gotten used to being a public person'", ''[[Associated Press|Associated Press State & Local Wire]]'', [[December 4]] [[2004]]</ref> "My auntie would never, ever go to this length to hurt some young artists trying to make it in the world," Parks' niece Rhea McCauley said in an [[Associated Press]] interview. "As a family, our fear is that during her last days Auntie Rosa will be surrounded by strangers trying to make money off of her name."<ref>"Medical records show Rosa Parks had dementia as early as 2002", ''[[Associated Press|Associated Press State & Local Wire]]'', [[January 13]] [[2005]]</ref>
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Parks' funeral service, seven hours long, was held on Wednesday, November 2, at the Greater Grace Temple Church. After the funeral service, an honor guard from the Michigan [[United States National Guard|National Guard]] laid the U.S. flag over the casket and carried it to a horse-drawn hearse, which carried it to the cemetery. Thousands of people turned out to view the procession, applauding and releasing white balloons. Mrs. Parks was interred between her husband and mother at Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery in the chapel's mausoleum. The chapel was renamed the Rosa L. Parks Freedom Chapel soon after her death. <ref> [http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051103/NEWS06/511030463/1012 Parks to remain private in death] ''Detroit News''. November 3, 2005. Retrieved November 7, 2013.</ref>
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The lawsuit was settled [[April 15]], [[2005]]. In the settlement agreement, OutKast and their producers and record labels paid Parks an undisclosed cash settlement and agreed to work with the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in creating educational programs about the life of Rosa Parks. The record labels and OutKast admitted to no wrongdoing. It is not known whether Parks' legal fees were paid for from her settlement money or by the record companies.<ref>[http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0504/16/D01-151386.htm "Parks settles OutKast lawsuit"], ''[[Detroit News]]'', [[April 15]] [[2005]]</ref>
 
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== Death and funeral ==
 
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[[Image:AdvertiserParksDies.jpg|right|thumb|175px|[[October 25]], [[2005]], edition of ''[[The Montgomery Advertiser]]'' after Rosa Parks' death.]]
 
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Rosa Parks resided in Detroit until she died at the age of 92 on [[October 24]], [[2005]], at about 19:00 [[Eastern Daylight Time|EDT]], in her apartment on the east side of the city. She had been diagnosed with progressive [[dementia]] in 2004.
 
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City officials in Montgomery and Detroit announced on [[October 27]] that the front seats of their city buses would be reserved with black ribbons in honor of Parks until her funeral.  Parks' coffin was flown to [[Montgomery, Alabama]] and taken in a horse-drawn hearse to the St. Paul [[African Methodist Episcopal]] (AME) church, where she [[lying in repose|lay in repose]] at the altar, dressed in the uniform of a church deaconess, on [[October 29]]. A memorial service was held there the following morning, and one of the speakers, [[Secretary of State]] [[Condoleezza Rice]], said that if it were not for Rosa Parks, she would probably have never become the Secretary of State. In the evening the casket was transported to [[Washington, D.C.]] and taken, aboard a bus similar to the one in which she made her protest, to [[lying in state|lay in honor]] in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda (making her the first woman and second African American ever to receive this honor). An estimated 50,000 people viewed the casket there, and the event was broadcast on television on [[October 31]]. This was followed by another memorial service at a different St. Paul AME church in Washington on the afternoon of [[October 31]]. For two days, she lay in repose at the [[Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History]] in [[Detroit, Michigan]].
 
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Parks' [[funeral]] service, seven hours long, was held on Wednesday, [[November 2]], at the Greater Grace Temple Church. After the funeral service, an honor guard from the Michigan [[United States National Guard|National Guard]] laid the U.S. flag over the casket and carried it to a horse-drawn hearse, which had been intended to carry it, in daylight, to the cemetery. As the hearse passed the thousands of people who had turned out to view the procession, many clapped and released white balloons. Rosa was interred between her husband and mother at Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery in the chapel's mausoleum. (The chapel was renamed the Rosa L. Parks Freedom Chapel just after her death.)<ref>[http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051103/NEWS06/511030463/1012 "Parks to remain private in death"], ''[[Detroit News]]'', [[November 3]], [[2005]]</ref> Parks had previously prepared and placed a headstone on the selected location with the inscription "Rosa L. Parks, wife, 1913&ndash;".
 
  
 
==Awards and honors==
 
==Awards and honors==
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[[Image:Rosa_Louise_McCauley_Parks_in_1979.jpg|thumb|left|Rosa Parks with the NAACP's highest award, the [[Spingarn Medal]], in 1979.]]
 
 
[[Image:Rosa Parks medal.gif|frame|right|The Rosa Parks [[Congressional Gold Medal]] bears the legend "Mother of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement".]]
 
[[Image:Rosa Parks medal.gif|frame|right|The Rosa Parks [[Congressional Gold Medal]] bears the legend "Mother of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement".]]
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Parks received most of her national accolades very late in life, with relatively few awards and honors being given to her until many decades after the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In 1979, the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] awarded Parks the [[Spingarn Medal]], its highest honor, and she received the Martin Luther King Sr. Award the next year. She was inducted into the [[Michigan Women's Hall of Fame]] in 1983 for her achievements in [[civil rights]]. In 1990, she was called at the last moment to be part of the group welcoming [[Nelson Mandela]], who had just been released from his imprisonment in [[South Africa]]. Upon spotting her in the reception line, Mandela called out her name and, hugging her, said, "You sustained me while I was in prison all those years." <ref>[http://wcpo.com/news/2005/local/10/25/rosa_parks.html "Tri-state Judge Says Rosa Parks' Work Goes On"], ''WPCO News'', [[October 25]] [[2005]]</ref>
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Rosa Parks received most of her national accolades very late in life, receiving relatively few awards and honors until many decades after the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In 1979, the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] awarded Parks the ''Spingarn Medal,'' its highest honor, and she received the Martin Luther King Sr. Award the next year. She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1983 for her achievements in civil rights. In 1990, she was called to be part of the group welcoming [[Nelson Mandela]], who had just been released from his imprisonment in [[South Africa]]. Upon spotting her in the reception line, Mandela called out her name and, hugging her, said, "You sustained me while I was in prison all those years." <ref> [http://wcpo.com/news/2005/local/10/25/rosa_parks.html Tri-state Judge Says Rosa Parks' Work Goes On] ''Scripps TV Station Group - WPCO News''. October 25, 2005. Retrieved January 21, 2008.</ref>
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+
{{readout||left|250px|Rosa Parks was called "Mother of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement" for her refusal to give up her seat in a bus to a white passenger}}
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Parks received the [[Rosa Parks Peace Prize]] in 1994 in [[Stockholm]], [[Sweden]]. On [[September 9]], [[1996]], President Bill Clinton presented Parks with the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]], the highest honor given by the U.S. executive branch. In 1998, she became the first recipient of the International Freedom Conductor Award given by the [[National Underground Railroad Freedom Center]]. The next year, Parks was awarded the [[Congressional Gold Medal]], the highest award given by the U.S. legislative branch and also received the [[Windsor-Detroit International Freedom Festival|Detroit-Windsor International Freedom Festival]] Freedom Award. Parks was [[Lenny Skutnik|a guest]] of President [[Bill Clinton]] during his 1999 [[State of the Union Address]]. Also that year, [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]] named Parks one of the 20 most influential and iconic figures of the twentieth century.<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/parks01.html "Rosa Parks: Her simple act of protest galvanized America's civil rights revolution]", ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', [[June 14]] [[1999]]</ref> In 2000, her home state awarded her the Alabama Academy of Honor, as well as the first Governor's Medal of Honor for Extraordinary Courage. She was also awarded two dozen honorary doctorates from universities worldwide, and was made an honorary member of the [[Alpha Kappa Alpha]] sorority.
+
Parks received the Rosa Parks Peace Prize in 1994 in Stockholm, [[Sweden]]. On September 9, 1996, President [[Bill Clinton]] presented Parks with the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]], the highest honor given by the U.S. executive branch. In 1998, she became the first recipient of the International Freedom Conductor Award given by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The following year, Parks was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award given by the U.S. legislative branch and also received the Detroit-Windsor International Freedom Festival Freedom Award. Mrs. Parks was a guest of President Bill Clinton during his 1999 State of the Union Address. Also that year, ''Time'' magazine named Parks one of the 20 most influential and iconic figures of the twentieth century.<ref> Rita Dove, [http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/parks01.html Rosa Parks: Her simple act of protest galvanized America's civil rights revolution], ''TIME'' Magazine, June 14, 1999. Retrieved January 21, 2008. </ref> In 2000, her home state awarded her the Alabama Academy of Honor, as well as the first Governor's Medal of Honor for Extraordinary Courage. She was also awarded two dozen honorary doctorates from universities worldwide, and was made an honorary member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
  
 
[[Image:RosaParks-BillClinton.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Rosa Parks and U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]]]]
 
[[Image:RosaParks-BillClinton.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Rosa Parks and U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]]]]
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The Rosa Parks Library and Museum on the campus of Troy University in [[Montgomery, Alabama]], was dedicated to her on December 1, 2000. It is located on the corner where Parks boarded the famed bus. The most popular items in the museum are the interactive bus arrest of Mrs. Parks and a sculpture of Parks sitting on a bus bench.  The documentary "Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks" received a 2002 nomination for [[Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject]]. She also collaborated that year in a TV movie of her life starring [[Angela Bassett]].
+
The Rosa Parks Library and Museum on the campus of Troy University in Montgomery, Alabama, was dedicated to her on December 1, 2000. It is located on the corner where Parks boarded the famed bus. The documentary "Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks" received a 2002 nomination for [[Academy Award]] for Documentary Short Subject. She also collaborated that year in a TV movie of her life starring Angela Bassett.
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The [[United States Senate]] passed a resolution on [[October 27]], [[2005]] to honor Parks by allowing her body to [[lying in state|lie in honor]] in the [[United States Capitol|U.S. Capitol]] Rotunda. The [[House of Representatives]] approved the resolution on [[October 28]]. Since the founding of the practice of lying in state in the Rotunda in 1852, Parks was the 31st person, the first woman, the first American who had not been a U.S. government official, and the second non-government official (after Frenchman [[Pierre L'Enfant]]).  She was also the second black person to lie in state, after [[Jacob Chestnut]], one of the two [[United States Capitol Police]] officers who were fatally shot by [[Russell Eugene Weston Jr.]] on [[July 24]], [[1998]]. Former President [[Ronald Reagan]] was the last person to lie in state in the Rotunda, in 2004.
 
  
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On [[October 30]], President [[George W. Bush]] issued a Proclamation ordering that all flags on US public areas both within the country and abroad be flown at [[half-staff]] on the day of Parks' funeral.  
+
The [[United States Senate]] passed a resolution on October 27, 2005 to honor Parks by allowing her body to lie in state in the [[United States Capitol|U.S. Capitol]] Rotunda. On October 30, President [[George W. Bush]] issued a Proclamation ordering that all flags on U.S. public areas both within the country and abroad be flown at half-staff on the day of Parks' funeral.  
  
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[[Image:Rosa_parks_bus.jpg|thumb|250px|left|The No. 2857 (GM serial number 1132, coach ID #2857) bus, which Rosa Parks was riding on before she was arrested, is now a museum exhibit at the [[Henry Ford Museum]].]]
+
[[Image:Rosa_parks_bus.jpg|thumb|250px|left|The No. 2857 (GM serial number 1132, coach ID #2857) bus, which Rosa Parks was riding on before she was arrested, is now a museum exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum.]]
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[[Metro Transit (King County)|Metro Transit]] in [[King County, Washington]] placed stickers<ref>[http://transit.metrokc.gov/up/archives/nov05/rosaparks.html "Rosa Parks Honored on Metro Bus Fleet]", ''[[Metro Transit (King County)|King County Metro Online]]''</ref> dedicating the first forward-facing seat of all its buses in Parks' memory shortly after her death, and the American Public Transportation Association declared December 1, 2005, the 50th anniversary of her arrest, to be a "National Transit Tribute to Rosa Parks Day". <ref>[http://www.apta.com/rosa/index.cfm National Transit Tribute to Rosa Parks Day], American Public Transportation Association, accessed [[December 1]], [[2005]].</ref>  On that anniversary, President George W. Bush signed H. R. 4145, directing that a statue of Parks be placed in the United States Capitol's [[National Statuary Hall]]. In signing the resolution directing the Joint Commission on the Library to do so, the President stated:  
+
Metro Transit in King County, [[Washington]] placed stickers dedicating the first forward-facing seat of all its buses in Parks' memory shortly after her death, and the American Public Transportation Association declared December 1, 2005, the 50th anniversary of her arrest, to be a "National Transit Tribute to Rosa Parks Day." <ref> National Transit Tribute to Rosa Parks Day ''American Public Transportation Association''.</ref>  On that anniversary, President George W. Bush signed H. R. 4145, directing that a statue of Parks be placed in the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall. In signing the resolution directing the Joint Commission on the Library to do so, the President stated:  
  
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:{{Cquote|''By placing her statue in the heart of the nation's Capitol, we commemorate her work for a more perfect union, and we commit ourselves to continue to struggle for justice for every American. ''<ref>{{cite web | title=President Signs H.R. 4145 to Place Statue of Rosa Parks in U.S. Capitol | url=http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051201-1.html | accessdate=December 4 | accessyear=2005 }}</ref>''}}
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<blockquote>"By placing her statue in the heart of the nation's Capitol, we commemorate her work for a more perfect union, and we commit ourselves to continue to struggle for justice for every American." <ref> [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051201-1.html President Signs H.R. 4145 to Place Statue of Rosa Parks in U.S. Capitol] ''The White House'', December 2005. Retrieved January 21, 2008. </ref></blockquote>
  
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On [[February 5]], [[2006]], at [[Super Bowl XL]], played at Detroit's [[Ford Field]], the late [[Coretta Scott King]] and Parks, who had been a long-time resident of "The Motor City", were remembered and honored by a moment of silence. It was noted that the honor was to show respect for two women who had "helped make the nation as a whole great."
+
On February 5, 2006, at Super Bowl XL, played at Detroit's Ford Field, the late [[Coretta Scott King]] and Parks, who had been a long-time resident of "The Motor City," were remembered and honored by a moment of silence. It was noted that the honor was to show respect for two women who had "helped make the nation as a whole great."
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
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<div class="references-small">
 
 
<references />
 
<references />
−
</div>
 
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
−
* "The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott" by Ken Hare, Montgomery Advertiser, October 2005, retrieved [[November 5]] [[2005]]
 
−
* "Browder v. Gayle: The Women Before Rosa Parks" by Tim Walker, Tolerance.org, retrieved [[October 27]] [[2005]]
 
−
* "Heroes and Icons: Rosa Parks" by Rita Dove, Time.com, [[June 14]] [[1999]], retrieved [[October 29]] [[2005]]
 
−
* "Civil rights icon Rosa Parks dies at 92" by CNN.com, [[October 25]] [[2005]], retrieved [[October 27]] [[2005]]
 
−
* "Is Barbershop Right About Rosa Parks?" by Brendan I. Koerner, Slate, [[September 27]] [[2005]], retrieved [[October 27]] [[2005]]
 
−
* "Rosa Parks, 92, Founding Symbol of Civil Rights Movement, Dies" by E.R. Shipp, The New York Times, [[October 25]] [[2005]], retrieved [[October 27]] [[2005]]
 
−
* Editorial. 1974. "Two decades later." ''New York Times'' ([[May 17]]): 38. ("Within a year of ''[[Brown v. Board of Education|Brown]],'' Rosa Parks, a tired seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, was, like [[Plessy v. Ferguson|Homer Plessy]] sixty years earlier, arrested for her refusal to move to the back of the bus.")
 
−
*John Safran's Musical Jamboree
 
  
 +
* CNN News. "Civil rights icon Rosa Parks dies at 92" by ''CNN.com''. October 25 2005.
 +
* Dove, Rita. "Heroes and Icons: Rosa Parks" TIME 100, June 14 1999. ''TIME.com''.
 +
* Hare, Ken. "The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott" ''Montgomery Advertiser,'' October 2005.
 +
*John Safran's Musical Jamboree.
 +
*Kohl, Herbert. ''She Would Not Be Moved: how we tell the story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott.'' New York: The New Press, 2005. ISBN 1595580204
 +
*Parks, Rosa, with James Haskins. ''Rosa Parks, My Story.'' New York: Dial Books, 1992. ISBN 0803706731
 +
*Parks, Rosa, with Gregory J. Reed. ''Quiet Strength''. Zondervan, 1994. ISBN 978-0310501503
 +
* Shipp, E.R. "Rosa Parks, 92, Founding Symbol of Civil Rights Movement, Dies" ''The New York Times'', October 25 2005.
 +
* Walker, Tim. "Browder v. Gayle: The Women Before Rosa Parks," ''Tolerance.org''.
 +
* ''New York Times'' Editorial. "Two decades later," ''New York Times'' (May 17, 1974): 38. ("Within a year of ''[[Brown v. Board of Education|Brown]],'' Rosa Parks, a tired seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, was, like Homer Plessy sixty years earlier, arrested for her refusal to move to the back of the bus.")
  
 +
==External links==
 +
All links retrieved December 16, 2022.
  
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==External links==
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* Academy of Achievement [http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0pro-1 Profile]
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{{Spoken Wikipedia|En-Rosa_Parks.ogg|2005-11-29}}
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* Academy of Achievement [http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0bio-1 Biography]
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{{commons|Rosa Parks}}
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* Academy of Achievement [http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0int-1 Interview]
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;Official
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* Academy of Achievement [http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0gal-1 Photo Gallery]
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* Academy of Achievement Profile http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0pro-1
 
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* Academy of Achievement Biography http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0bio-1
 
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* Academy of Achievement Interview http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0int-1
 
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* Academy of Achievement Photo Gallery http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0gal-1
 
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*[http://montgomery.troy.edu/museum/ Rosa Parks Library and Museum] at [[Troy University]]
 
 
* [http://www.rosaparks.org The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development]
 
* [http://www.rosaparks.org The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development]
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;Multimedia and interviews
 
 
*[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4973548&sourceCode=gaw ''Civil Rights Icon Rosa Parks Dies'' - National Public Radio]
 
*[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4973548&sourceCode=gaw ''Civil Rights Icon Rosa Parks Dies'' - National Public Radio]
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*[http://www.democracynow.org/index.pl?issue=20051025 ''Civil Rights Pioneer Rosa Parks 1913-2005'' - Democracy Now! democracynow.org]
 
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*[http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/01/1518216 ''Oprah Winfrey, Cicely Tyson, Julian Bond, Dorothy Height & Others Pay Tribute to Civil Rights Pioneer Rosa Parks'' - Democracy Now! democracynow.org]
 
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*[http://www.davidsosnowski.com ''The Departure Of Rosa Parks'' (Trumpet & Symphony Orchestra)] by American composer [[David J. Sosnowski]]
 
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;Others
 
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* [http://www.rootdig.com/rosa_parks.html Rosa Parks in the 1920 and 1930 Census][http://www.whocanteach.com .]
 
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* [http://www.progenealogists.com/parks/aqwg01.htm Rosa Parks' Ancestry and Genealogy]
 
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* [http://www.montgomeryboycott.com Complete audio/video and newspaper archive of the Montgomery Bus Boycott]
 
 
* [http://womenshistory.about.com/od/parksrosa/p/rosa_parks.htm Rose Parks Biography]
 
* [http://womenshistory.about.com/od/parksrosa/p/rosa_parks.htm Rose Parks Biography]
 
* [http://www.themilitant.com/2005/6945/694558.html Rosa Parks: cadre of working-class movement that ended Jim Crow]  
 
* [http://www.themilitant.com/2005/6945/694558.html Rosa Parks: cadre of working-class movement that ended Jim Crow]  
 
* [http://womenshistory.about.com/od/quotes/a/rosa_parks.htm Rosa Parks Quotes]
 
* [http://womenshistory.about.com/od/quotes/a/rosa_parks.htm Rosa Parks Quotes]
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* [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/rparksmug1.html The mug shot of Rosa Parks after she was arrested in Montgomery]
 
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* [http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0int-1 Rosa Parks interview and photographs]
 
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* [http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-10-25T025344Z_01_HO508630_RTRUKOC_0_US-PARKS.xml News of Parks' Death from Reuters]
 
 
*[http://marriage.about.com/od/historical/p/rosaparks.htm Rosa and Raymond Parks Marriage Profile]
 
*[http://marriage.about.com/od/historical/p/rosaparks.htm Rosa and Raymond Parks Marriage Profile]
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*[http://www.twoop.com/people/archives/2005/10/rosa_parks.html Rosa Parks - A timeline of her life]
 
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*[http://www.alternet.org/story/27687/ Rosa Parks was not the beginning - Alternet]
 
 
*[http://economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=5080964&logout=Y Rosa Parks, a pioneer of civil rights, died on October 24th, aged 92]
 
*[http://economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=5080964&logout=Y Rosa Parks, a pioneer of civil rights, died on October 24th, aged 92]
  
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[[Category:Politicians and reformers]]
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|NAME=Parks, Rosa Louise McCauley
 
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|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=McCauley, Rosa Louise
 
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|SHORT DESCRIPTION=[[African American]] civil rights activist, seamstress
 
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|DATE OF BIRTH=[[February 4]] [[1913]]
 
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|PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Tuskegee, Alabama]], [[United States]]
 
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|DATE OF DEATH=[[October 24]] [[2005]]
 
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|PLACE OF DEATH=[[Detroit, Michigan]], [[United States]]
 
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Latest revision as of 21:42, 16 April 2023

Rosa Parks in 1955, with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the background

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an African-American civil rights activist whom the U.S. Congress dubbed the "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement."

Mrs. Parks is one of the two individuals most often associated with the Civil Rights Movement in the South during the 1960s, along with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She is famous for her refusal on December 1, 1955 to obey bus driver James Blake's demand that she give up her seat to a white passenger. Her subsequent arrest and trial for this act of civil disobedience triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation in history, and launched Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the organizers of the boycott, to the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement. Her role in American history earned her an iconic status in American culture, and her actions have left an enduring legacy for civil rights movements around the world. Mrs. Parks determined to fight for equality and resolution of oppression through peaceful, nonviolent, resistance. She understood that the necessity of maintaining her dignity through her public ordeals was crucial, as her stance was not for herself alone but on behalf of her entire race.

Her role in the bus boycott has been the subject of debate. In the popular version, she was described as a "tired seamstress" on her way home from work, refusing to give up her seat on the bus. The true story of Mrs. Parks might more accurately be as described by Diane McWorther in A Dream of Freedom: “The tired she felt was the kind of fatigue of the soul that has built for decades and finally sets off a revolution.”

Certainly her act of resistance set in motion an irreversible cycle of change that would eventually secure equal treatment under the law for all African-Americans. Wrote Richette L. Haywood in Jet Magazine:

"For those who lived through the unsettling 1950s and 1960s and joined the civil rights struggle, the soft-spoken Rosa Parks was more, much more than the woman who refused to give up her bus seat to a White man in Montgomery, Alabama. Hers was an act that forever changed White America's view of Black people, and forever changed America itself." [1]

Early years

Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4, 1913 to James and Leona McCauley, a carpenter and a teacher. When her parents separated, she moved with her mother to Pine Level, Alabama, just outside Montgomery. There she grew up on a farm with her maternal grandparents, mother, and younger brother Sylvester, and began her lifelong membership in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Her mother homeschooled Rosa until she was eleven, when she enrolled in the Industrial School for Girls in Montgomery, taking academic and vocational courses. Parks then went on to a laboratory school set up by the Alabama State Teachers College for Negroes (now Alabama State University) for secondary education, but was forced to drop out to care for her grandmother, and later for her mother, after she too grew ill.

Marriage

In 1932, Rosa married Raymond Parks, a barber from Montgomery, at her mother's house. Raymond was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and at the time was collecting money to support the Scottsboro Boys, a group of black men falsely accused of raping two white women. After her marriage, Rosa took a number of jobs, ranging from domestic worker to hospital aide. At her husband's urging, she finished her high school studies in 1933, at a time when less than seven percent of African-Americans had a high school diploma.

In December 1943, Parks became active in the Civil Rights Movement, joining the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP, and was elected volunteer secretary to its president, Edgar Nixon. She would continue as secretary until 1957. In the 1940s, Parks and her husband were also members of the Voters' League. Sometime soon after 1944, she held a job briefly at Maxwell Air Force Base, where federal rules prohibited racial segregation, commuting on an integrated trolley. Mrs. Parks later stated, "You might just say Maxwell opened my eyes up."

She also worked as a housekeeper and seamstress for a white couple, Clifford and Virginia Durr. In the summer of 1955, the politically liberal Durrs became her friends, and encouraged Parks to attend, eventually helping to sponsor her at the Highlander Folk School, an education center for workers' rights and racial equality in Monteagle, Tennessee. Highlander was known throughout the South as a radical educational center planning methods that would see the total desegregation of the South. While at the school, Rosa determined to become an active participant in other attempts to break down the barriers of segregation.[2]

Early Influences

Under Jim Crow laws, Americans of European descent and those of African descent were segregated in virtually every aspect of daily life in the South, including public transportation and public facilities. Parks recalled going to elementary school in Pine Level, where school buses took white students to their new school while black students walked to theirs: "I'd see the bus pass every day… But to me, that was a way of life; we had no choice but to accept what was the custom. The bus was among the first ways I realized there was a black world and a white world."

Though Parks' autobiography recounts that some of her earliest memories are of the kindness of white strangers, her situation made it impossible to ignore racism. When the Ku Klux Klan marched down the street in front of her house, Parks recalls her grandfather guarding the front door with a shotgun. The Montgomery Industrial School, founded and staffed by white Northerners for black children, was burned twice by arsonists, and its faculty was ostracized by the white community.

Like many, Parks was deeply moved by the brutal murder of Emmett Till in August 1955. On November 27, 1955, only four days before her famous refusal to give up her seat on the bus, she attended a meeting in Montgomery which focused on the Till case as well as the recent murders of George W. Lee and Lamar Smith. The featured speaker at the meeting was T.R.M. Howard, a black civil rights leader from Mississippi who headed the Regional Council of Negro Leadership.

Civil rights activism

Many people today have no concept of legalized, institutionalized racism, organized racist groups, and personal hatreds faced by African Americans that created a need for a liberation movement. The story of oppression must be told as part of the true story of freedom. The story must be told of the risk and courage of the African Americans who originated the struggle for civil rights in the United States as well as the history and nature of segregation.[2]

Events leading up to boycott

In 1944, athletic star Jackie Robinson took a stand in a confrontation with an Army officer in Fort Hood, Texas, refusing to move to the back of a bus. He was brought before a court-martial, which acquitted him.[3] The NAACP had accepted and litigated other cases before, such as that of Irene Morgan ten years earlier, which resulted in a victory in the U.S. Supreme Court on Commerce Clause grounds. That victory, however, overturned state segregation laws only insofar as they applied to travel in interstate commerce, such as interstate bus travel.

A boycott had been discussed as far back as 1949 by the Woman’s Political Council (WPC). WPC was a black women’s group which was working for full integration, not simply “better seating arrangements.” The boycott came about through collective decision making, willed risk and coordinated action; not simply by an angry individual who sparked a demonstration.[2]

African-American leaders had prepared for years to stage a bus boycott due to the treament of blacks on the bus. The community in Montgomery were ready to support the boycott, they were just waiting for word from community leaders. Others had been arrested before Mrs. Parks, but each had to be carefully scrutinized; the NAACP understood that whoever they chose to stand behind would have to withstand the pressures of cross-examination in a legal challenge to racial segregation laws. Because of her integrity and leadership within the civil rights movement, Rosa Parks became the figurehead. She was well-known to all of the African American leaders in Montgomery for her opposition to segregation, her leadership abilities and her moral strength. Since 1954 and the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, she had been working on the desegregation of the Montgomery schools.

The day she was arrested the leadership called a meeting at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. They decided to begin their refusal to ride the buses the very next morning. They knew Mrs. Parks had the courage to deal with the pressure of defying segregation and would not yield even if her life was threatened. The next day the boycott began.

Seat layout on the bus where Parks sat, December 1, 1955.

Bus protest and arrest

Fingerprint card of Rosa Parks.

In Montgomery, public buses were divided into two sections, one at the front for Caucasian Americans, meant for whites only. From five to ten rows back the section for African Americans began, which was called the colored section. When it was crowded on city buses, blacks were forced to give up seats in the colored sections to whites and move to the back of the bus. Black passengers had to pay their bus fare in the front, then get off the bus, walk to the back door and enter that way to find their seat. They could not simply walk from the front to the back after paying their fare. For years, the black community had complained that the situation was unfair, and Parks was no exception: "My resisting being mistreated on the bus did not begin with that particular arrest…I did a lot of walking in Montgomery."

On December 1, 1955, after a day at work at Montgomery Fair department store, Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus in downtown Montgomery. She paid her fare and sat in an empty seat in the first row of back seats reserved for blacks in the "colored" section. As the bus traveled along its regular route, all of the white-only seats in the bus filled up. The bus reached the stop in front of the Empire Theater, and several white passengers boarded. Following standard practice, the bus driver demanded that four black people give up their seats in the middle section so that the white passengers could sit. Years later, in recalling the events of the day, Parks said,

"When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night."

Rosa acted with clear resolve to keep her seat despite being told otherwise. It was not a matter of simple fatigue after one tiring day. Not mere anger or stubbornness; she was confronting segregation head on with whatever sacrifice she had to make.

During a 1956 radio interview with Sydney Rogers in West Oakland, when asked why she had decided not to vacate her bus seat, Parks said, "I would have to know for once and for all what rights I had as a human being and a citizen of Montgomery, Alabama."

Parks also detailed her motivation in her autobiography, My Story

"People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in."

Police report on Rosa Parks, December 1, 1955, page 1.

When Parks refused to give up her seat, a police officer arrested her. As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked, "Why do you push us around?" The officer's response as she remembered it was, "I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest." She later said, "I only knew that, as I was being arrested, that it was the very last time that I would ever ride in humiliation of this kind."

Parks was charged with a violation of Chapter 6, Section 11 segregation law of the Montgomery City code, even though she technically had not taken up a white-only seat; she had been in a colored section. E.D. Nixon and Clifford Durr bailed Parks out of jail the evening of December 1. Nixon then persuaded her to allow her case to be used to challenge the city's bus segregation policy. That evening, Nixon conferred with Alabama State College professor Jo Ann Robinson about Parks' case. Nixon also consulted African American attorney Fred Gray. Together, they agreed that a long-term legal challenge of bus segregation should be underscored by a one-day boycott of the bus system. Nixon and Robinson went about setting the boycott into motion that evening. Nixon spent the late evening drawing up a list and talking to prominent black leaders from Montgomery for support.

Four days later, Parks was tried on charges of disorderly conduct and violating a local ordinance. The trial lasted 30 minutes. Parks was found guilty and fined $10, plus $4 in court costs.[4] Parks appealed her conviction and formally challenged the legality of racial segregation. In a 1992 interview with National Public Radio's Lynn Neary, Parks recalled:

"I did not want to be mistreated, I did not want to be deprived of a seat that I had paid for. It was just time… there was opportunity for me to take a stand to express the way I felt about being treated in that manner. I had not planned to get arrested. I had plenty to do without having to end up in jail. But when I had to face that decision, I didn't hesitate to do so because I felt that we had endured that too long. The more we gave in, the more we complied with that kind of treatment, the more oppressive it became."

Police report on Rosa Parks, December 1, 1955, 2

Montgomery bus boycott

On Monday, December 5, 1955, a group of 16 to 18 people gathered at the Mt. Zion AME Zion Church to discuss boycott strategies. The group agreed that a new organization was needed to lead the boycott effort if it were to continue. Rev. Ralph David Abernathy suggested the name "Montgomery Improvement Association" (MIA). The name was adopted, and the MIA was formed. Its members elected as their president a relative newcomer to Montgomery, a young and mostly unknown minister of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

That Monday night, 50 leaders of the African American community gathered to discuss the proper actions to be taken in response to Parks' arrest. E.D. Nixon said, "My God, look what segregation has put in my hands!" Parks was the ideal plaintiff for a test case against city and state segregation laws. While the 15-year-old Claudette Colvin, unwed and pregnant, had been deemed unacceptable to be the center of a civil rights mobilization, King stated; "Mrs. Parks, on the other hand, was regarded as one of the finest citizens of Montgomery; not one of the finest Negro citizens, but one of the finest citizens of Montgomery." Parks was securely married and employed, possessed a quiet and dignified demeanor, and was politically savvy.

The connection between Rosa Parks’ arrest and the boycott was not instantaneous. This was a planned resistance, not a spontaneous emotional response. The boycott had been planned and organized throughout 1955. It mobilized so quickly because of such planning. In the months preceding Parks’ arrest, three others had been arrested for refusing to give up their seats. Because of Parks’ civil rights leadership in Montgomery she was trusted not to cave in under the pressure everyone knew she would be exposed to, including threats on her life.

The night of Friday, December 2, 1955, Jo Ann Robinson of the Women's Political Council (WPC) mimeographed over 35,000 handbills announcing a bus boycott. The WPC was the first group to officially endorse the boycott.

On Sunday, December 4, 1955, plans for the Montgomery Bus Boycott were announced at black churches in the area, and a front-page article in The Montgomery Advertiser helped spread the word. At a church rally that night, attendees unanimously agreed to continue the boycott until they were treated with the level of courtesy they expected, until black drivers were hired, and until seating in the middle of the bus was handled on a first-come basis.

The day of Parks' trial, Monday, December 5, 1955, the WPC distributed the 35,000 leaflets. The handbill read, "We are…asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial…. You can afford to stay out of school for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown-ups, don't ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off the buses Monday."[5]

It rained that day, but the black community persevered in their boycott. Some rode in carpools, while others traveled in black-operated cabs that charged the same fare as the bus, 10 cents. Most of the remainder of the 40,000 black commuters walked, some as far as twenty miles. In the end, the boycott lasted for 381 days. Dozens of public buses stood idle for months, severely damaging the bus transit company's finances, until the law requiring segregation on public buses was lifted.

Some segregationists retaliated with terrorism. Black churches were burned or dynamited. Martin Luther King's home was bombed in the early morning hours of January 30, 1956, and E.D. Nixon's home was also attacked. However, the black community's bus boycott marked one of the largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation. It sparked many other protests, and it catapulted King to the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement.

Through her role in sparking the boycott, Rosa Parks played an important part in internationalizing the awareness of the plight of African Americans and the civil rights struggle. King wrote in his 1958 book Stride Toward Freedom that Parks' arrest was the precipitating factor, rather than the cause, of the protest:

"The cause lay deep in the record of similar injustices…. Actually, no one can understand the action of Mrs. Parks unless he realizes that eventually the cup of endurance runs over, and the human personality cries out, 'I can take it no longer.'"

The Montgomery bus boycott was also the inspiration for the bus boycott in the township of Alexandria in South Africa which was one of the key events in the radicalization of the black majority of that country under the leadership of the African National Congress.

The legal end to segregation

Immediately after the initiation of the bus boycott, legal strategists began to discuss the need for a federal lawsuit to challenge city and state bus segregation laws, and approximately two months after the boycott began, they reconsidered Claudette Colvin's case. Attorneys Fred Gray, E.D. Nixon and Clifford Durr searched for the ideal case law to challenge the constitutional legitimacy of city and state bus segregation laws. Parks' case was not used as the basis for the federal lawsuit because, as a criminal case, it would have had to make its way through the state criminal appeals process before a federal appeal could have been filed. City and state officials could have delayed a final rendering for years. Furthermore, attorney Durr believed it possible that the outcome would merely have been the vacating of Parks' conviction, with no changes in segregation laws. [6]

Gray researched for a better lawsuit, consulting with NAACP legal counsels Robert Carter and Thurgood Marshall, who would later become U.S. solicitor general and a U.S. Supreme Court justice. Gray approached Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith, all women who had had disputes involving the Montgomery bus system the previous year. They all agreed to become plaintiffs in a civil action law suit. Browder was a Montgomery housewife, Gayle the mayor of Montgomery. February 1, 1956, the case of Browder v. Gayle was filed in U.S. District Court by Fred Gray. It was Browder v. Gayle that brought segregation to an end on public buses. [7]

June 19, 1956, the U.S. District Court's three-judge panel ruled that Section 301 (31a, 31b and 31c) of Title 48, Code of Alabama, 1940, as amended, and Sections 10 and 11 of Chapter 6 of the Code of the City of Montgomery, 1952, "deny and deprive plaintiffs and other Negro citizens similarly situated of the equal protection of the laws and due process of law secured by the Fourteenth Amendment" (Browder v. Gayle, 1956). The court essentially decided that the precedent of Brown v. Board of Education (1954) could be applied to Browder v. Gayle. November 13, 1956, the United States Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation on buses, deeming it unconstitutional. The court order arrived in Montgomery, Alabama, December 20, 1956, and the bus boycott ended the next day. However, more violence erupted following the court order, as snipers fired into buses and into King's home, and terrorists threw bombs into churches and into the homes of many church ministers. [8]

Later years

After her arrest, Rosa Parks became an icon of the Civil Rights Movement, but suffered hardships as a result. She lost her job, and her husband quit his job after his boss forbade him from talking about his wife or the legal case. Parks traveled and spoke extensively. In 1957, Raymond and Rosa Parks left Montgomery for Hampton, Virginia—mostly because she was unable to find work, but also because of disagreements with King and other leaders of Montgomery's struggling civil rights movement. Later that year, at the urging of her younger brother Sylvester Parks, she, her husband Raymond, and her mother Leona McCauley, moved to Detroit, Michigan.

Parks worked as a seamstress until 1965, when African-American U.S. Representative John Conyers D-Michigan hired her as a secretary and receptionist for his congressional office in Detroit. She held this position until she retired in 1988. In a telephone interview with CNN on October 24 2005, Conyers recalled, "You treated her with deference because she was so quiet, so serene—just a very special person…. There is only one Rosa Parks." Later in life, Parks also served as a member of the Board of Advocates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Rosa Parks and Elaine Eason Steele co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in February 1987, in honor of Rosa's husband, who died from cancer in 1977. The institute runs the "Pathways to Freedom" bus tours, which introduce young people to important civil rights and Underground Railroad sites throughout the country.

In 1992, Parks published Rosa Parks: My Story, an autobiography aimed at younger readers which details her life leading up to her decision not to give up her seat. In it she said:

“I have spent over half my life teaching love and brotherhood, and I feel that it is better to continue to try to teach or live equality and love than it would be to have hatred or prejudice. Everyone living together in peace and harmony and love - that’s the goal that we seek, and I think that the more people there are who reach that state of mind, the better we will all be.”

In 1995, she published her memoirs, titled Quiet Strength, which focuses on the role that her faith had played in her life.

Death and funeral

Rosa Parks resided in Detroit until she died at the age of 92 on October 24, 2005 in her apartment on the east side of the city. She had been diagnosed with progressive dementia in 2004.

City officials in Montgomery and Detroit announced on October 27 that the front seats of their city buses would be reserved with black ribbons in honor of Parks until her funeral. Parks' coffin was flown to Montgomery, Alabama and taken in a horse-drawn hearse to the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church, where she lay in repose at the altar, dressed in the uniform of a church deaconess, on October 29. A memorial service was held there the following morning at which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated that if it were not for Rosa Parks, she would probably have never become the Secretary of State.

In the evening the casket was transported to Washington, D.C. and taken aboard a bus similar to the one in which she made her protest, to lay in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, making her the first woman and second African American ever to receive this honor. An estimated 50,000 people viewed the casket there, with the event being broadcast on television. This was followed by another memorial service at St. Paul AME church in Washington on the afternoon of October 31. For two days, she lay in repose at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan.

Parks' funeral service, seven hours long, was held on Wednesday, November 2, at the Greater Grace Temple Church. After the funeral service, an honor guard from the Michigan National Guard laid the U.S. flag over the casket and carried it to a horse-drawn hearse, which carried it to the cemetery. Thousands of people turned out to view the procession, applauding and releasing white balloons. Mrs. Parks was interred between her husband and mother at Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery in the chapel's mausoleum. The chapel was renamed the Rosa L. Parks Freedom Chapel soon after her death. [9]

Awards and honors

The Rosa Parks Congressional Gold Medal bears the legend "Mother of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement".

Rosa Parks received most of her national accolades very late in life, receiving relatively few awards and honors until many decades after the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In 1979, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People awarded Parks the Spingarn Medal, its highest honor, and she received the Martin Luther King Sr. Award the next year. She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1983 for her achievements in civil rights. In 1990, she was called to be part of the group welcoming Nelson Mandela, who had just been released from his imprisonment in South Africa. Upon spotting her in the reception line, Mandela called out her name and, hugging her, said, "You sustained me while I was in prison all those years." [10]

Did you know?
Rosa Parks was called "Mother of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement" for her refusal to give up her seat in a bus to a white passenger

Parks received the Rosa Parks Peace Prize in 1994 in Stockholm, Sweden. On September 9, 1996, President Bill Clinton presented Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given by the U.S. executive branch. In 1998, she became the first recipient of the International Freedom Conductor Award given by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The following year, Parks was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award given by the U.S. legislative branch and also received the Detroit-Windsor International Freedom Festival Freedom Award. Mrs. Parks was a guest of President Bill Clinton during his 1999 State of the Union Address. Also that year, Time magazine named Parks one of the 20 most influential and iconic figures of the twentieth century.[11] In 2000, her home state awarded her the Alabama Academy of Honor, as well as the first Governor's Medal of Honor for Extraordinary Courage. She was also awarded two dozen honorary doctorates from universities worldwide, and was made an honorary member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Rosa Parks and U.S. President Bill Clinton

The Rosa Parks Library and Museum on the campus of Troy University in Montgomery, Alabama, was dedicated to her on December 1, 2000. It is located on the corner where Parks boarded the famed bus. The documentary "Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks" received a 2002 nomination for Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject. She also collaborated that year in a TV movie of her life starring Angela Bassett.

The United States Senate passed a resolution on October 27, 2005 to honor Parks by allowing her body to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. On October 30, President George W. Bush issued a Proclamation ordering that all flags on U.S. public areas both within the country and abroad be flown at half-staff on the day of Parks' funeral.

The No. 2857 (GM serial number 1132, coach ID #2857) bus, which Rosa Parks was riding on before she was arrested, is now a museum exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum.

Metro Transit in King County, Washington placed stickers dedicating the first forward-facing seat of all its buses in Parks' memory shortly after her death, and the American Public Transportation Association declared December 1, 2005, the 50th anniversary of her arrest, to be a "National Transit Tribute to Rosa Parks Day." [12] On that anniversary, President George W. Bush signed H. R. 4145, directing that a statue of Parks be placed in the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall. In signing the resolution directing the Joint Commission on the Library to do so, the President stated:

"By placing her statue in the heart of the nation's Capitol, we commemorate her work for a more perfect union, and we commit ourselves to continue to struggle for justice for every American." [13]

On February 5, 2006, at Super Bowl XL, played at Detroit's Ford Field, the late Coretta Scott King and Parks, who had been a long-time resident of "The Motor City," were remembered and honored by a moment of silence. It was noted that the honor was to show respect for two women who had "helped make the nation as a whole great."

Notes

  1. ↑ Rosa Parks Gale Cengage Learning, Contemporary Black Biography, Vol. 35. (Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Thomson Gale.) Retrieved January 21, 2008.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Herbert Kohl, She Would Not Be Moved: How we tell the story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott (New York: The New Press, 2005).
  3. ↑ The New York Times Company - About.com. Jackie Robinson Profile.
  4. ↑ Civil rights icon Rosa Parks dies at 92 CNN.com, October 25, 2005. Retrieved January 21, 2008.
  5. ↑ Rita Dove, Heroes and Icons: Rosa Parks The TIME 100: TIME Magazine, June 14, 1999. Retrieved January 21, 2008.
  6. ↑ They Changed the World: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott Montgomery Advertiser, 2005. Retrieved January 21, 2008.
  7. ↑ Tim Walker, Browder v. Gayle: The Women Before Rosa Parks Tolerance.org, 2005. Retrieved January 21, 2008.
  8. ↑ E.R. Shipp, Rosa Parks, 92, Founding Symbol of Civil Rights Movement, Dies New York Times, October 25, 2005. Retrieved January 21, 2008.
  9. ↑ Parks to remain private in death Detroit News. November 3, 2005. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
  10. ↑ Tri-state Judge Says Rosa Parks' Work Goes On Scripps TV Station Group - WPCO News. October 25, 2005. Retrieved January 21, 2008.
  11. ↑ Rita Dove, Rosa Parks: Her simple act of protest galvanized America's civil rights revolution, TIME Magazine, June 14, 1999. Retrieved January 21, 2008.
  12. ↑ National Transit Tribute to Rosa Parks Day American Public Transportation Association.
  13. ↑ President Signs H.R. 4145 to Place Statue of Rosa Parks in U.S. Capitol The White House, December 2005. Retrieved January 21, 2008.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • CNN News. "Civil rights icon Rosa Parks dies at 92" by CNN.com. October 25 2005.
  • Dove, Rita. "Heroes and Icons: Rosa Parks" TIME 100, June 14 1999. TIME.com.
  • Hare, Ken. "The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott" Montgomery Advertiser, October 2005.
  • John Safran's Musical Jamboree.
  • Kohl, Herbert. She Would Not Be Moved: how we tell the story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott. New York: The New Press, 2005. ISBN 1595580204
  • Parks, Rosa, with James Haskins. Rosa Parks, My Story. New York: Dial Books, 1992. ISBN 0803706731
  • Parks, Rosa, with Gregory J. Reed. Quiet Strength. Zondervan, 1994. ISBN 978-0310501503
  • Shipp, E.R. "Rosa Parks, 92, Founding Symbol of Civil Rights Movement, Dies" The New York Times, October 25 2005.
  • Walker, Tim. "Browder v. Gayle: The Women Before Rosa Parks," Tolerance.org.
  • New York Times Editorial. "Two decades later," New York Times (May 17, 1974): 38. ("Within a year of Brown, Rosa Parks, a tired seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, was, like Homer Plessy sixty years earlier, arrested for her refusal to move to the back of the bus.")

External links

All links retrieved December 16, 2022.

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