Rose Louise McCauley was born on February 4,1913, in Tuskegee, Albama to parents James McCauley and Leona Edwards. Rosa's father worked as a carpenter while her mother was a teacher. Rosa was not completely African American, but of African American, Cherokee-Creek, and Scot-Irish ancestery.
As a youn child, Rosa suffered from poor health including chronic tonsilitis. Her parents seperated when she was young and she moved with her mother, grandparetns, and brother, Sylvester. In this new town of Pine Level, Rosa began her lifelong membership of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Rosa attended The Industrial School for Girls in Montgomery, and then later the Albama State Teachers College For Negroes but later had to drop out to take care of her grandmother and mother who were both ill.
As a young girl, Rosa picked up on every way that the south seperated Blacks and Whites. Rosa stated, "...The bus was among the first ways I realized there was a black world and a white world." The white kids would be picked up by the buses on their way to school while the black children had to walk to their schools.
Rosa's entire childhood was filled with racism. The "Ku Klux Klan" would march down her street in front of her house. While this happened, her grandfather would sit by the door, gaurding it with a shotgun. Rosa's school had been burned twice by white arsonists.
In 1932, Rosa McCauley married Raymond Parks, who was a barber from Montgomery. After their marriage, Rosa began to take several jobs including a domestic worker to a hospital aide. In 1933, Rosa went back to school and recieved her high school diploma at a time when only 7% of the black community had diplomas.
In 1943, Rosa joined the Montogomery Chapter of the Civil RIghts Movement. She was elected the secretary of the movement, considering she was the only woman. She held her position until 1953.
On Thursday, December 1, 1955, around 6 pm, Rosa Parks had finished her shift at the Montgomery Fair Depratment Store and was riding the Cleveland Avenue bus back to her home. Rosa took her seat at the beginning of the "Colored Section" which was in the middle of the bus, directly behind the 10 seats reserved for the white passengers. Along the route, the "white" seats began to fill up. The bus stopped at the third stop, the Empire Theater where several white passengers boarded the bus. The rest of the white seats filled up, and 3 white men were left standing. The bus driver moved the "Colored" sign back a row and demanded that 4 black passengers move back. Rosa states, "When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night."
The black man seated next to Parks moved back while Rosa just moved over towards the window. When questioned why she wasn;t moving she just said she doesn't she needs to. The bus driver was angry and threatened to call the police. Rosa calmly said "You may do that"
In the story most people hear of this event, Rosa is described as tired, but Rosa states "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, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in."
Parks was arrested for her actions and she questioned the officer why he "Pushes us around". he just replied that "the law is the law"
Rosa was charged under the violation of Chapter 6, Section 11 segregation law of the Montgomery City code. Edgar Nixon and Clifford Durrbailed Parks out of jail the evening of December 2.
The black community was inspired by Rosa and they started a bus boycott. They all refused to move for white people and ordered fair treatment. Rosa was charged for disorderly conduct after the one day boycott.
The black community formed a meeting and elected Martin Luther King Jr. as their president. They formed a plan to stay off the buses as much as they could. He urged them to walk or carpool or ride in black operated cabs. The first day of the boycott, which was also the day of Parks' trial, was rainy, but the citizens carried on as planned, some walking as far as 20 miles. The boycott laste 381 days damaging the public transit's finance and led to the lifitng of the segregration law.
I believe that Rosa Parks is one of the most influental women of all time. Not just from the black community, but overall. She was determined to do something that everyone else was afraid of doing and stood p for herself and everyone else as well. I truly believe taht what Parks did that night was one of the most influental times in history.
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