Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks (http://images.google.com/ preferences?q=Rosa +Parks&hl=en&lr=&rls= GGLD,GGLD: 2004-28,GGLD:en&sa=F)

My American hero had qualities such as being a hard worker, having strength, and being a pioneer in Civil Rights. I think these qualities are difficult to find in one person. My hero did not care what other people thought about her. If you make the world a better place, no matter what other people think, you are a hero in my eyes. Rosa Parks never cared about what anyone else thought. She did what she thought was right and did it with strength. It is hard to believe what she achieved in her life from 1913-1988.

First, Rosa Parks showed that she was a hard worker. I think she was a hard worker when she spent all day in a cotton field picking cotton. She only got paid one dollar per one hundred pounds of cotton. Working in the hot sun all day required hard work. She even dropped out of school to take care of her grandmother. She loved school very much, but she was willing to help her grandmother. Then, when she got back into school, she had to drop out again to take care of her mother. Her willingness to do things that were difficult for her family showed what a hard worker she was.

Bus Boycott (http://images.google.com)

Second, Rosa Parks showed a lot of strength. It took a lot of strength to sit in the middle of the bus when she was told to move. Back then, it was against the law for a black person to sit anywhere but the back of the bus. Rosa thought she should be able to sit where the whites sat, and that she should not have to give up her seat to a white person. That was a very unpopular belief back then. Rosa Parks showed strength because she was willing to go to jail for what she believed. Rosa also was one of the first women to join the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. They later called it the NAACP for short. I think it took even more strength to let the NAACP use her experience to complain to the Montgomery, Alabama bus system. I think it shows how strong she really was.

Rosa Parks in jail (tesla.liketelevision.com/.../ rosa_parks_bust.jpg)

Third, Rosa Parks was a pioneer in Civil Rights. If Rosa Parks did not let the NAACP use her experience, then life might still be unfair for the black people in the United States. Rosa Parks was one of the people who started the bus boycott. The boycott was when thousands of black people refused to ride the bus for 382 days because they didn’t want to be segregated anymore. Rosa Parks got fired from her job as a seamstress because of the boycott. The boycott ended in 1956; however, she kept working for the rights of black people. Her work changed the lives of millions. She even won a Spingarn Medal for her work in Civil Rights. In 1999 after Rosa died, she was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal. She should have gotten it sooner than that. While she was alive Rosa Parks was a true American hero.

A coin of Rosa Parks (www.congressionalgoldmedal.com/ RosaParksHonor)

Rosa Parks was a great American hero. She brought a lot of peace to America. She made life better for every person black or white. We live together and go to the same schools. Now some black people marry white people. If it wasn’t for Rosa Parks starting the Civil Rights Movement, whites would still be mean to blacks. I thank Rosa Parks for everything she has done for America. Rosa Parks, you are an American hero.