Rosa Louise Parks

(www.nwp.com)

My definition of a hero would be someone who is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in and what she wants, no matter how long it might take her to get where she wants to be. For this person, she really inspired me to pick her as my hero. She let everyone know to get out of her way. The person that I picked to be my hero is a well-known person who won medals for her participation in ending segregation. Her name is Rosa Parks. I picked Rosa Parks to be my hero because she is not afraid to stand up for what she wanted for the world, to be a better place. The other reason was because she was such a loving person to everyone.

Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama, to James and Leona McCauley, a carpenter and a teacher. Rosa Parks is known for not giving up her seat for a white man and being arrested. Rosa Parks worked with famous people such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, and so on. She also received medals for what she did to get there. She received medals from former President Bill Clinton. She was also named “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement” in honor of her courage and hard work.

In August of 1994, Rosa Parks was attacked in her own home by a young man who wanted money from her. She says, “I pray for the young man and the conditions in our country that have made him this way. Despite violence and crime in our society, we should not let our fear overwhelm us. We must remain strong.” After Rosa Parks’s husband died in 1977, Mrs. Parks founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development. The institute sponsors offered an annual summer program for teens called, "Pathways to Freedom." Teens tour the country in buses, under adult supervision, learning the history of their country and of the Civil Rights Movement.

Rosa Parks’ life must have been very hard. Her fear was hearing the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) at night riding by her house. The person who she was inspired by the most was her mother because she believed in freedom and equality in our nation. Rosa Parks also liked to read books. The kind of books she read is short stories, and fairy tales. She encouraged children to read.

Rosa Parks had a wonderful life as a person and as a noble woman. She inspired everyone to do what is best for everyone. The people who inspired her were mostly her family. Throughout it all, she stuck with the people who believed in her and encouraged her to do better in life. To help her by her side was her husband, Raymond Parks. I chose this hero because she just wanted to make the world a better place for everyone to live and play. She also taught everyone an important lesson on how to share the world and thank God that you are still living today. A hero should not be somebody who has super powers and can fly anywhere in the world, a hero should be someone who does everyday things to make the world cleaner and safer for everyone. A hero should be a noble woman like Rosa Parks.