Rosa Parks

A civil rights leader, brave, and a downright awesome person, who do you think this is? Not Martin Luther King Jr, but Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks began her life in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4th, 1913. One of her earliest memories is of the Klu Klux Klan (KKK) marching in the street. She was constantly in fear that they would hurt her or her family. She went to a segregated one room elementary school where there weren't enough supplies and the meager supplies they had were practically falling apart! But while they had to deal with this, the white students' school was completely upgraded. When she was in 11th grade she was going to a laboratory school, but sadly she had to quit the school and come back to Alabama to take care of her sick mother and grandmother. Because of this, she got a job at a shirt making factory and couldn't continue her degree. These inequities made Rosa Parks become a civil rights leader in her adulthood.

Rosa Parks staring out of a bus window (deepsouthmag.com ())

Rosa Parks accomplished many things, these only being a few. First, there's her famous bus incident. She had just finished a weary day at the shirt factory, and got on the bus. But even though she was sitting in the "colored" section, she was asked to give her seat up, and she refused, which caused her to be arrested! Being given an award is an honor, but having an award named after you is even better. The Southern Christian Leadership Council created the Rosa Parks Freedom Award. She was awarded the presidential award in 1996. Then, in 1999 she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Sadly, Rosa Parks died October 24, 2005, in Detroit, at the age of 92. Her casket was placed in the U.S. rotunda, for 2 days. She was the second African American, and the first woman to be placed there. Rosa Parks was an amazing woman and had a great impact on the civil rights movement.