Rosa Parks

childhood

• Rosa Louise McCauley was born on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama.
• Her younger brother, Sylvester, was born on August 20, 1915.
• She was a small, sickly, delicate, child who grew up with tonsillitis.
• She later had her tonsils removed to improve her health.
• She talked back or gave white kids an attitude when she was threatened.

Early years

• Her parents were Leona Edwards and James McCauley.
• Her mother was a teacher and her father was a carpenter.
• Her parents separated e they had two different ways to live.
• Leona took the children to the Edward's Farm in Pine Level, Alabama.
• Rosa learned about racism, segregation, and slavery from her grandparents.

Schooling

• Rosa attended school in Pine Level, but her mother was also her teacher.
• She went to Miss White's School for Girls (private), created by northern  
• Rosa went to a laboratory school at Alabama State Teacher's College.
• She had to quit school twice to take care of her ill mother and grandmother
• Her grandmother died shortly after and didn't finish high school.

other

• Rosa, 20 married Raymond Parks, 29, a barber on December 18, 1932.
• She went back to school and earned her high school diploma.
• Only 7% of African Americans earned a high school diploma.
• She tried voting twice and was denied, but accepted on her third try.

NAACP

• The National Association for the Advanced Placement of Colored People
• The NAACP tried to prove justice for innocent African Americans.
• Rosa first worked as a secretary, then as an adviser for the Youth Council.
• She was in charge of keeping track of unjust crime cases and their evidence
• Her husband was longtime member of the NAACP and inspired her to join.

December 1, 1955

• Rosa boarded the bus after a day of work
• She sat in the front seats of the colored section and the bus became full.
• One male white passenger was left standing, driver told people to get off.
• 3 out of the 4 people got off the bus, Rosa didn't move or budge.
• The driver called the police and was arrested for breaking Alabama law.

Activism

• Rosa's refusal to let a white passenger sit down, sparked the Bus Boycott.
• The Boycott was a 381 protest against segregation on Montgomery buses.
• US Supreme Court Decision: Segregation on buses was unconstitutional.
• Participated in the Civil Rights Movement causing her to lose her job.
• Moved to Detroit and works for US Representative, John Conyer for 23 years 

Later years

• Rosa's husband, 74 and brother, 62 died in 1977 due to cancer.
• Her mother died in 1979 at the age of 92 due to cancer.
• Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development.
• Rosa Parks and Elaine Steele founded it
• Gives teenagers bus tours to learn about Civil Rights.

Death and medals

• She died on October 24, 2005 of natural causes at the age of 92.
• Inducted in the Michigan Hall of Fame
• Spingarn Medal, NAACP's highest honor
•  Martin Luther King Jr. award, Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award
• Presidential Medal of Freedom, highest award given to American Citizens.

"each Person must live their life

"yOU MUST NEVER BE FEARFUL ABOUT