Rosa Parks Civil Rights Movement

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks is a civil rights activists who was born on February 4th, 1913. She was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. Rosa’s grandparents, Rose and Sylvester Edwards were both formally slaves and were strong advocates for racial equality. In Fact, It was even reported that Edward stood outside his farm home with a shotgun when Ku Klux Klan members marched down the street. After her parents divorced, Rosa moved to Pine Level, Alabama to live with her mother and family to live with her grandparents.

At a young age, Rosa attended a one-room school where African-American students were forced to walk, while white students were permitted to attend a whole new school building for the students as well as public transportation. She then attended the Industrial School for Girls at age 11. In the 11th grade, she attended a Laboratory School for Secondary Education. Rosa then left school to care for her sick mother and grandmother, and she never returned to school. Alternatively, she got a job at a shirt factory located in Montgomery.

She had 500 supporters rooting for her, but she was found guilty and charged $14.00 ($124.02 in today 's currency). This caused the African-American community to stop taking public transportation altogether, and the majority of buses were empty. This went on for several months, and with the growing success, some people of colour were subjected to violence. Black churches were burned, and funding for the taxi system for African Americans was cancelled. But, with the transit companies and businesses suffering financial loss as well as the legal system going against them, Montgomery had to lift its enforcement of segregation on public buses on December 20, 1956.

Rosa died in her apartment in Detroit, on October 24th, 2005 at the age of 92. She died quietly after being diagnosed with progressive dementia the previous