Rosa Louise Parks

Rosa Louise Parks was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama, USA. Rosa Parks was an African American seamstress and a major figure in the American Civil Rights Movement. She is most famous for her December 1, 1955 refusal to give up a seat on a bus for a white man.

Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley. She was the daughter of James and Leona McCauley. In the early 1950s, Rosa Parks worked as a secretary in the Montgomery, Alabama branch of the NAACP. Six months before she was arrested, she had attended the Highlander Folk School, an education center for workers' rights and racial equality. On December 1, 1995, in Montergomery, Parks refused to obey a public bus driver's order to move to the back of the bus to make extra seats for whites. She was tired of being treated as a second-class citizen and held her ground. The very next night, 50 leaders of the African American community, headed by Martin Luther King Jr. met to discuss the proper actions for Mrs. Rosa Parks.

Afterwards, Parks became an icon of the civil rights movement. She moved to Detroit, Michigan in the early 1960s and served on the staff of U.S. Representative John Conyers from 1965 until 1988. Rosa Parks died in her sleep Monday October 24, 2005 at her home in Detroit. She was frail and 92 years old. However 50 years ago, she was one strongest women in America. When she was asked to move she said "NO". When the bus driver said that he had to arrest her for not listening to him, "You may do that" is what she said. This is the way we all can remember Rosa Parks by what she said and did. She was a real hero because she stood up to make our world be a better place. If she did not stand up for her beliefs, everybody would still be separate. I would like to say thank you Mrs. Rosa Parks.