Increasingly, the world is awarding a healthy dose of respect to women who are not afraid to fight for a course they believe in, especially one that is noble. Rosa Parks was one of those women, an African American woman who sat down and stood up for the rights of all black people in America.
Today, Rosa is recognized as the mother of the civil rights movement throughout America and the world beyond. Her refusal to give up a seat she paid for to a white passenger in 1955 sparked a violent protest that rocked the United States and changed America’s view of people of color and redirected the course of history.
Biography of Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise Parks, better known as Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. She was born as Rosa Louise McCauley, but changed her name to Rosa parks when she married in 1932 Montgomery hairdresser Raymond Parks. Rosa’s mother, Leona Edwards McCauley, taught while her father, James McCauley, was a carpenter.
It is notorious that Rosa attended a local rural activity, then she attended the Industrial School for Girls in Montgomery and then the Alabama State Teacher’s College High School. But unfortunately for her, she had to leave school to take care of her sick grandmother and eventually her own mother fell ill as well and Rosa had to give up all hope of completing the teacher training she followed.
Rosa Parks gradually became aware of the segregation that ran deep in her hometown, Alabama. As a growing child, the human rights activist experienced deep-rooted racism and realized that young black and white people faced different opportunities.
She was encouraged by her husband, Raymond Parks to graduate from high school in 1933 and later joined the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and actively involved in civil rights issues in 1943. While in the NAACP, she served as youth officer for her chapter and later as secretary to the NAACP president. The human rights activist ended up becoming deeply involved in fundraising and other initiatives regarding the chapter. She still attended meetings, seeking to prevent injustice and protect the rights of people of color.
Rosa’s action on a bus sparked the famous Montgomeryboycott robbery of buses in 1955, when she refused to give up her seat to a white man. Her actions led to her arrest and trial, where she was found guilty of an act of civil disobedience and therefore had to pay a fine, but the bus boycott that followed this event changed the laws on segregation in Montgomery, as well as the lives of people of color.
After the successful boycott that lasted 381For days, Rosa became an icon, she became a well-known figure and a leading spokesperson for civil rights in the United States. Although she lost her job in the department store and had to survive by working as a seamstress for years, she was not discouraged but continued her fight against racism.
Rosa would later be employed by US Representative John Conyers and until her retirement in 1965 worked as a secretary.
When and how did she die? Here are the facts
The human rights activist died on October 24, 2005 at her apartment in Detroit, Michigan. In 2004, Rosa was diagnosed with progressive dementia, which appears to have been present since 2002.
It is known that Rosa died at her home at the age of 92 while reading the newspapers from 7 to 8 p.m. The cause of death was recorded as a natural cause.
Rosa’s burial was a phenomenal event at several memorial services: her body was laid in state at Capitol Rotunda Washington, D.C. It is common knowledge that more than 50,000 people from all walks of life came to view her casket.
She was buried in Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery, at the Chapel Mausoleum, and her final resting place was between the graves of her mother and husband. Shortly after her burial, the chapel’s name was changed to Rosa L. Parks Freedom Chapel; this was done in order to immortalize his name.