This woman did more than just refuse to give up her seat on a bus; she sparked a movement for change in the United States.

Born in Alabama in 1913, Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was the firstborn of two children in her family. Recalling her childhood on her grandparents’ farm, Rosa told of the ever-present threat of the Ku Klux Klan toward Black families in the area. Her grandfather would sit with a rifle in his hand, she remembered, guarding his family from the potential danger. Segregated schools in her town meant one teacher to a classroom of more than 50 children. She attended school through age 16 before withdrawing to care for her dying grandmother and chronically ill mother. 

Having witnessed and experienced racial discrimination firsthand, Rosa became active in the Civil Rights Movement. She met and married Raymond Parks, a self-educated man ten years her senior and a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He encouraged her to pursue finishing her high school diploma, which she did within a year. With her husband, Rosa got involved in more social justice organizations. She became secretary for NAACP. Her husband worked as a youth leader for the group. They hoped to improve conditions for Black people in the South where Jim Crow laws kept most places segregated by skin color. Though there were many more challenges happening to protest the unfair laws, most did not receive the publicity to make a difference

Finally, on December 1, 1955, Rosa made a choice that would change the course of American history. With Rosa already seated back in the “colored” section of the segregated bus on her way home from work, the front of the bus began to fill up. Soon, the driver demanded that the first row of the “colored” section need to stand to allow the White passengers a seat. Three of the four riders complied. Rosa refused. She later wrote about the event, “People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically. … No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”

The bus, stopped on the road by this time, was boarded by two police officers who arrested Rosa for breaking segregation laws. Her trial set was for the following Monday, so the leadership of the NAACP rallied to quickly plan a bus boycott for that day. The successful demonstration gave the cause the attention needed to turn the tide. Over the next year, the boycott continued as the case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where it was ruled that segregation on buses was unconstitutional.

After the trial, Rosa and her family moved to Detroit, where she took a job as an aide to Congressman John Conyers, Jr. She kept this position for the next 23 years until her retirement. She remained active in civil rights groups in her new city, continuing to fight for an end to inequality. Desiring to motivate youth to reach their potential, she co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in 1987. 

Rosa received many honors in her lifetime including 43 honorary doctorate degrees, the Rosa Parks Peace Price in 1994, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and being named one of Time magazine’s most influential people of the 20th century. In 1997, the state of Michigan made her the first living person to be honored with a holiday, proclaiming the first Monday following her birthday, February 4, to be Mrs. Rosa Parks’ Day. She wrote four books, including one for preschoolers. A final honor came after her death when Rosa became the first woman, and only the second African American, to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol for two days, allowing the public to pay its respects, something typically reserved for presidents.

Two of her books are available on my Women’s History Month shelf here. This is an affiliate link; thank you for supporting my work.