Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. She changed her name to Parks in 1932 when she wed Raymond Parks. She worked at a number of jobs, ranging from domestic worker to hospital aide. At her husband's urging, she finished her high school studies in 1933, at a time when less than 7% of African Americans had a high school diploma.
Despite the Jim Crow laws that made political participation by Black people difficult, she successfully registered to vote on her third try. In December 1943, she became active in the Civil Rights Movement, joining the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP.
Parks demonstrated great courage came when the seamstress and NAACP member refused to yield her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus on December 1, 1955. Her actions sparked a 382-day boycott of the buses in Montgomery, halting business and services in the city and it become the initial act of non-violent disobedience of the American Civil Rights movement. Check out Parks' interview where she comments on the goals of the boycott below:
She was honored with the NAACP's Spingarn Medal for her heroism and later work with Detroit youth (1979) and earned the title "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement." She will passed away on October 24, 2005.
The United States Senate passed a resolution on October 27, 2005 to honor Mother Parks by allowing her body to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. The House of Representatives approved the resolution on October 28. Since the founding of the practice of lying in state in the Rotunda in 1852, Parks is the 31st person, the first woman, & the first American who had not been a U.S. government official and the second non-government official (after Frenchman Pierre L'Enfant).
On October 30, 2005 President George W. Bush issued a Proclamation ordering that all flags on U.S. public areas both within the country and abroad be flown at half-staff on the day of her funeral. (Parks is pictured above with former President Clinton). On February 5, 2006, at Super Bowl XL, played at Detroit's Ford Field, the late Coretta Scott King and Mother Parks, who had been a long-time resident of "The Motor City", will be remembered and honored by a moment of silence.
Although the decision to use Parks as the impetus for the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott was a collective effort, Rosa Parks is a prime example of how one person can change the world. For her courage and contributions to the civil rights movement, HUSL Today salutes Rosa Parks!
Happy Birthday Ms. Parks!