Rosa Parks

« Rosa Parks     Civil rights activist Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama.  In 1932, Rosa married a barber named Raymond Parks who was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Rosa Parks, who inspired a generation to fight for civil rights, died in 2005 at the age of 92.   On December 1, 1955, after a long day at work at the Montgomery Fair department store, Rosa Parks wanted to take a bus for home.

She took a seat in the first of several rows designated for "colored" passengers.

There were several white people who didn't have seat.

The driver stopped the bus and moved the sign separating the two sections back one row and asked four black passengers to give up their seats.

Three complied, but Rosa refused.

The driver demanded, "Why don't you stand up?" to which Rosa replied, "I don't think I should have to stand up." The driver called the police and it arrested Rosa at the scene and charged her with violation of Chapter 6, section 11 of the Montgomery City code.

She was put in jail and later that night she was released fon bail.

On December 8, Rosa faced trial and was found guilty of violating a local ordinance.

She had to pay $14.   Rosa Parks has been called the "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement." By not giving up her seat to a white passenger on a city bus, Rosa Parks started a protest that was felt throughout the United States.

Her courageous act changed America and redirected the course of history.. »