ROSA
PARKS
The Activist
"...No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in."
Here is a timeline to show the highlights in the story of Rosa Parks
- 1913
- February 4th, Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama
- 1932
- Marries Raymond Parks
- 1943
- Rosa tried to vote and was denied.
She became active in the civil rights movement, joined and served as secretary of the Montgomery NAACP (National association for the advancement of colored people), an organization formed to promote the use of courts to restore the legal rights of black Americans. - 1944
- She investigated the gang-rape of Recy Taylor, and organized the campaign for Mrs Recy Taylor
- 1945
- Rosa on her third attempt succeeded in registering to vote
- 1955
- November 27, four days before she would resist on the bus, Rosa was saddened and angry with the news of the acquittal of the two men who had brutally murdered a black teenager Emmett Till.
December 1, Rosa in refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger, in Montgomery Alabama, is arrested, jailed by the police and fined $14. It is to be noted that she was not the first to be arrested for refusing to yield their seat on the Montgomery bus.
December 5, Rosa stands trial and is found guilty of breaking the segregation laws
This inspired the black community to boycott the Montgomery bus which lasted 381 days and helped to challenge racism in America and the World - 1956
- January, Rosa was fired from her job as a seamstress
February 21, Rosa was jailed a second time for her role in the boycott.
November, the U.S. Supreme Court receives Park’s case and ruled that segregation on transportation is unconstitutional.
December 21, the Montgomery buses was desegregated - 1957
- Rosa and her husband moved to Detroit because they suffered hardships for their involvement in the civil right movement
- 1977
- Rosa suffered the loss of both her husband and brother.
Because of her health challenges, and personal ordeals she became removed from the civil rights movement - 1979
- Her mother died at age 92
- 1987
- Rosa co-founded, the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development to introduce young people to important civil rights sites
- 1992
- Rosa published her autobiography, titled Rosa Parks: My Story which recounts her life
- 1995
- Rosa published her memoir, titled Quiet Strength which focuses on her faith
- 2005
- October 24, Rosa died of natural causes at age 92.
Her casket was transported to Washington, D.C. to lie in honour in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol
”we see the way things are -- children hungry in a land of plenty, entire neighborhoods ravaged by violence, families hobbled by job loss or illness -- and we make excuses for inaction, and we say to ourselves, that's not my responsibility, there’s nothing I can do.
Rosa Parks tells us there’s always something we can do. She tells us that we all have responsibilities, to ourselves and to one another. She reminds us that this is how change happens”--Barrack Obama, 44th president of the United States
You can read more about Rosa Parks Legacy and honors on her Wikipedia entry