Rosa Parks Research Paper

767 Words4 Pages

Rosa Parks was a Civil Rights activist before she was arrested for the bus boycott. She was actually preparing for a major youth conference with the NAACP when the arrest happened. Rosa was a very brave girl in her personal life, during the incident, and even after it was all started. She hugely impacted America by standing up for not only herself, but others as well. Rosa Parks was born and raised in Tuskegee, Alabama February 4, 1913 by her parents Leona Edwards McCauley and James McCauley. Rosa’s mother was a school teacher and her father was a carpenter. Her maiden name was Rosa Louise McCauley. Rosa had a brother whose name was Sylvester McCauley. When she was just eleven years old she finished her education at Pine Level and her mother …show more content…

She was on her way home from work one day as a seamstress when she boarded a bus and sat in the first row of the “Colored Section”. In Alabama at the time, when a bus became full, the rows closest to the front of the bus were given up to whites. Strangely enough, the bus driver who was in charge of that bus was one of the same bus drivers Parks had had some difficulty with earlier. Rosa had stated in her autobiography that, “I never wanted to be on that man’s bus again,”. His name was James Blake, and he demanded that Rosa Parks and three other African Americans give up their seats to the white man that was waiting for a seat to be vacant. The three men moved, however, Parks did not. She claimed to be tired of giving up everything because of her color, so she stayed seated and continued to stare out the window. The bus driver threatened to get the police involved and arrest her and she replied calmly, “You may do that.” Of course, she was then arrested and fined $10. This act must have taken serious bravery, and by doing that Rosa Parks forever changed America and the way people treated African …show more content…

The Bus Boycott took effect on December 5, 1955 to December 20, 1956. This organization was dedicated to fighting and refusing Jim Crow segregation. One spokesperson of this boycott was Martin Luther King Jr. and he taught nonviolence to all of the participants. He was just 26 years old as he led this protest. Thousands of people joined this Bus Boycott Protest to demand equal rights for all people. Not only did they fight to be treated with respect, but they also refused to ride on buses, choosing to walk instead. Rosa faced much harassment because of what she did, but in 1999 she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, which at the time was the highest honor that could be given to a