Rosa Parks

My hero is Rosa Parks. Her birth name is Rosa Louise McCauley. She was born on the 4th of February 1913, and died on the 24th October 2005. She was a figure of the fight against racial segregation in parts of the USA. Rosa became famous on the 1st of December 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama. She refused to give up her seat to a white passenger in a bus. She was arrested and fined for violating a city ordinance. DR. Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Improvement Association called for a boycott of the bus company. The boycott was lasted 382 days, and caused the attention of the world. The Supreme Court decided to delete her fine and her sentence, and to declare segregation illegal in buses too. Rosa Parks was called the first lady of civil rights and the mother of the freedom movement. Nowadays she's loved by people everywhere, and she's an inspiration to freedom in the world.

To me, a hero is somebody who stands up for his opinion and his rights, no matter what can happen. I think Rosa Parks is a hero because she was very brave although she was not so strong. She lived in a society where people with black skin were considered like animals, and she resisted this system with a very small act which had major consequences. I think people must be more like her, to make our world better.

She plays an important part in my life, because she teaches me how important it is to always defend my own opinion, even if it's against the law, just for the sake of justice. If I could speak to her today, I would say "Mrs Parks, you have all my respect and my admiration, thank you for making things change for all the black people. You are a model for everybody."