Rosa Parks By: Diane Jung

Rosa Parks (1913-2005) is best recognized as the brave seamstress who refused to ride on the back of a bus to make room for a white passenger on December 1, 1955. Although she was arrested and fined for this, Parks' act of defiance led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This boycott lasted 382 days and
Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama and attended the private school called the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls. She persisted despite the fear that she and her family lived in and took every opportunity she had to better her fortunes. She eventually graduated from the Alabama State Teachers College and then settled with her husband, Raymond Parks. Both Rosa and Raymond Parks joined the NAACP and helped their locals in various trials related to murder, flogging, peonage, and rape. Along with her work in the NAACP, Parks had an award in her honor, the Rosa Parks Freedom Award, founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Clinton, and also received the Congressional Gold Medal.
Parks lived the rest of her life in peace in Detroit and died on October 24, 2005. Her casket was placed in the rotunda of the United States Capitol for two days, an honor left for United States presidents.
Rosa Parks influenced and changed the lives of many and will forever be remembered as a pioneer in American History.