biography rosa parks ks2

• Occupation: Civil Rights Activist
• Born: February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama
• Died: October 24, 2005 in Detroit, Michigan
• Best known for: Montgomery Bus Boycott

• Rosa was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• Rosa often worked as a seamstress when she needed a job or to make some extra money.
• You can visit the actual bus that Rosa Parks sat in at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan.
• When she lived in Detroit, she worked as a secretary for U.S. Representative John Conyers for many years.
• She wrote an autobiography called Rosa Parks: My Story in 1992.
• Listen to a recorded reading of this page:

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For her role in the Montgomery bus boycott, Rosa Parks is called the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.

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Introduction

(1913–2005). Rosa Parks was an African American civil rights activist. By refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery , Alabama, she helped spark the American civil rights movement . Her action led to a successful protest action—the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955–56. Parks became a symbol of the power of nonviolent protest.

Rosa Louise McCauley was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. When she was two years old, her parents separated. She went with her mother and siblings to live on her grandparents’ farm in Pine Level, Alabama, outside Montgomery. For much of her childhood she was educated at home by her mother, who worked as a teacher at a nearby school. Rosa helped with chores on the farm and learned to cook and sew.

The family’s life on the farm was disrupted by the constant threat of racist violence by the Ku Klux Klan . As Rosa later recalled, that terrorist group “moved through the country, burning Negro [Black] churches, schools, flogging, and killing” Black families. Rosa’s grandfather would often keep watch at night, rifle in hand, awaiting a mob of violent white men. On nights thought to be especially dangerous, the children would have to go to bed with their clothes on. That way they would be ready if the family needed to escape.

Rosa and her family experienced racism in less violent ways, too. At that time in the South the races were segregated , or kept separate. This meant that Black people were kept away from white people on public transportation, and there were separate drinking fountains, restaurants, and schools for whites and Blacks. The facilities provided for Black people were not as good. When Rosa entered school in Pine Level, she had to attend a Black school where one teacher was put in charge of about 50 or 60 schoolchildren. Though white children in the area were bused to their schools, Black children had to walk.

Rosa briefly attended a high school run by the Alabama State Teachers College (now Alabama State University). At age 16, however, she had to leave school because of illness in the family. To make her living she began cleaning houses. In 1932 she married Raymond Parks, a barber and civil rights activist. She later worked as a seamstress and became an activist with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) . The NAACP worked to make life better and fairer for Black people. Parks served as secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP from 1943 to 1956.

The Bus Ride and Boycott

On her way home from work on December 1, 1955, Parks was riding a crowded Montgomery city bus. Some white people could not find seats. By law, Black passengers had to sit in a separate section. Black people sat at the back of the bus, while white people sat in the front. If the white section became full, Black people were ordered to give up their seats. That day Parks was seated in the first row of the Black section. The bus driver ordered the four Black people in that row, including Parks, to surrender their seats and stand so that white passengers could sit. The other three people stood, but Parks refused. As she later explained, she was “tired of giving in.” Parks was arrested, briefly jailed, convicted, and fined. She appealed her conviction.

Meanwhile, Parks’s arrest motivated local Black leaders to take action. Emerging civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. , led a boycott of the bus company that lasted more than a year. For 381 days many Black people refused to take the city buses. Without the fares of those Black passengers, the bus company lost a lot of money. Local Black leaders also filed a federal lawsuit against bus segregation. The case was ultimately heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 1956 that Montgomery’s segregated bus seating was unconstitutional. That meant that public transportation throughout the country could no longer legally have separate sections for Black and white people.

As a result of her arrest and the bus boycott, Parks faced ongoing harassment. She and her husband both lost their jobs, and she received many death threats from angry white people. The couple moved to Detroit, Michigan, in 1957. She worked in the office of Michigan congressman John Conyers, Jr., from 1965 until she retired in 1988. She remained active in the NAACP and other civil rights groups.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference established the Rosa Parks Freedom Award in her honor, and in 1979 the NAACP awarded Parks its Spingarn Medal . In 1987 she cofounded an institute to help educate young people and teach them leadership skills. Her autobiography, Rosa Parks: My Story, appeared in 1992. Parks was the recipient of two of the U.S. government’s most prestigious civilian honors—the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1996) and the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor (1999)—for her contributions to the civil rights movement. Parks died on October 24, 2005, in Detroit.

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Who was Rosa Parks?

Why is rosa parks important, was rosa parks the first black woman to refuse to give up her seat on a segregated bus.

• When did the American civil rights movement start?

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• Blackpast.org - Biography of Rosa Parks
• PBS LearningMedia - Rosa Parks
• The Henry Ford - Rosa Parks: What if I Don’t Move to the Back of the Bus?
• National Women's History Museum - Rosa Parks
• Encyclopedia of Alabama - Rosa Parks
• The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute - Rosa Parks
• Spartacus Educational - Biography of Rosa Parks
• Bill of Rights Institute - Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Iowa State University - Archives of Women's Political Communication - Rosa Parks
• National Archives - An Act of Courage, The Arrest Records of Rosa Parks
• Academy of Achievement - Rosa Parks
• Rosa Parks - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
• Rosa Parks - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Rosa Parks was an American civil rights activist whose refusal to give up her seat on a public bus precipitated the 1955–56 Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama, which became the spark that ignited the civil rights movement in the United States . She is known as the “mother of the civil rights movement.”

When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus for white passengers in 1955, she was arrested for violating the city’s racial segregation ordinances. Her action sparked the Montgomery bus boycott , led by the Montgomery Improvement Association and Martin Luther King, Jr. , that eventually succeeded in achieving desegregation of the city buses. The boycott also helped give rise to the American civil rights movement .

Rosa Parks was not the first Black woman to refuse to give up her seat on a segregated bus, though her story attracted the most attention nationwide. Nine months before Parks, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin had refused to give up her bus seat, as had dozens of other Black women throughout the history of segregated public transit.

What did Rosa Parks write?

In 1992 Rosa Parks published Rosa Parks: My Story , an autobiography written with Jim Haskins that described her role in the American civil rights movement , beyond her refusal to give up her seat on a segregated public bus to white passengers.

Recent News

Rosa Parks (born February 4, 1913, Tuskegee , Alabama , U.S.—died October 24, 2005, Detroit , Michigan) was an American civil rights activist whose refusal to relinquish her seat on a public bus precipitated the 1955–56 Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama, which became the spark that ignited the civil rights movement in the United States .

Born to parents James McCauley, a skilled stonemason and carpenter, and Leona Edwards McCauley, a teacher, in Tuskegee, Alabama, Rosa Louise McCauley spent much of her childhood and youth ill with chronic tonsillitis . When she was two years old, shortly after the birth of her younger brother, Sylvester, her parents chose to separate. Estranged from their father from then on, the children moved with their mother to live on their maternal grandparents’ farm in Pine Level, Alabama, outside Montgomery. The children’s great-grandfather, a former indentured servant , also lived there; he died when Rosa was six.

For much of her childhood, Rosa was educated at home by her mother, who also worked as a teacher at a nearby school. Rosa helped with chores on the farm and learned to cook and sew. Farm life, though, was less than idyllic . The Ku Klux Klan was a constant threat, as she later recalled, “ burning Negro churches, schools, flogging and killing ” Black families. Rosa’s grandfather would often keep watch at night, rifle in hand, awaiting a mob of violent white men. The house’s windows and doors were boarded shut with the family, frequently joined by Rosa’s widowed aunt and her five children, inside. On nights thought to be especially dangerous, the children would have to go to bed with their clothes on so that they would be ready if the family needed to escape. Sometimes Rosa would choose to stay awake and keep watch with her grandfather.

Rosa and her family experienced racism in less violent ways, too. When Rosa entered school in Pine Level, she had to attend a segregated establishment where one teacher was put in charge of about 50 or 60 schoolchildren. Though white children in the area were bused to their schools, Black children had to walk. Public transportation, drinking fountains, restaurants, and schools were all segregated under Jim Crow laws . At age 11 Rosa entered the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls, where Black girls were taught regular school subjects alongside domestic skills. She went on to attend a Black junior high school for 9th grade and a Black teacher’s college for 10th and part of 11th grade. At age 16, however, she was forced to leave school because of an illness in the family, and she began cleaning the houses of white people.

In 1932, at age 19, Rosa married Raymond Parks, a barber and a civil rights activist, who encouraged her to return to high school and earn a diploma. She later made a living as a seamstress. In 1943 Rosa Parks became a member of the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and she served as its secretary until 1956.

On December 1, 1955, Parks was riding a crowded Montgomery city bus when the driver, upon noticing that there were white passengers standing in the aisle, asked Parks and other Black passengers to surrender their seats and stand. Three of the passengers left their seats, but Parks refused. She was subsequently arrested and fined $10 for the offense and $4 for court costs, neither of which she paid. Instead, she accepted Montgomery NAACP chapter president E.D. Nixon’s offer to help her appeal the conviction and thus challenge legal segregation in Alabama. Both Parks and Nixon knew that they were opening themselves to harassment and death threats, but they also knew that the case had the potential to spark national outrage. Under the aegis of the Montgomery Improvement Association —led by the young pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Martin Luther King, Jr. —a boycott of the municipal bus company began on December 5. African Americans constituted some 70 percent of the ridership, and the absence of their bus fares cut deeply into revenue. The boycott lasted 381 days, and even people outside Montgomery embraced the cause: protests of segregated restaurants, pools, and other public facilities took place all over the United States. On November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision declaring Montgomery’s segregated bus seating unconstitutional, and a court order to integrate the buses was served on December 20; the boycott ended the following day. For her role in igniting the successful campaign, Parks became known as the “mother of the civil rights movement.”

Simplifications of Parks’s story claimed that she had refused to give up her bus seat because she was tired rather than because she was protesting unfair treatment. But she was an accomplished activist by the time of her arrest, having worked with the NAACP on other civil rights cases, such as that of the Scottsboro Boys , nine Black youths falsely accused of sexually assaulting two white women. According to Parks’s autobiography, “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 42. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” Parks was not the first Black woman to refuse to give up her bus seat for a white person—15-year-old Claudette Colvin had been arrested for the same offense nine months earlier, and dozens of other Black women had preceded them in the history of segregated public transit . However, as secretary of the local NAACP, and with the Montgomery Improvement Association behind her, Parks had access to resources and publicity that those other women had not had. It was her case that forced the city of Montgomery to desegregate city buses permanently.

In 1957 Parks moved with her husband and mother to Detroit, where from 1965 to 1988 she worked on the staff of Michigan Congressman John Conyers, Jr. She remained active in the NAACP, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference established an annual Rosa Parks Freedom Award in her honour. In 1987 she cofounded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development to provide career training for young people and offer teenagers the opportunity to learn about the history of the civil rights movement. She received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1996) and the Congressional Gold Medal (1999). Her autobiography, Rosa Parks: My Story (1992), was written with Jim Haskins.

Though achieving the desegregation of Montgomery’s city buses was an incredible feat, Parks was not satisfied with that victory. She saw that the United States was still failing to respect and protect the lives of Black Americans. Martin Luther King, Jr., who had been brought to national attention by his organization of the Montgomery bus boycott , was assassinated less than a decade after Parks’s case was won. Biographer Kathleen Tracy noted that Parks, in one of her last interviews, would not quite say that she was happy: “I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day, but I don’t think there is any such thing as complete happiness. It pains me that there is still a lot of Klan activity and racism. I think when you say you’re happy, you have everything that you need and everything that you want, and nothing more to wish for. I haven’t reached that stage yet.”

After Parks died in 2005, her body lay in state in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol , an honour reserved for private citizens who performed a great service for their country. For two days mourners visited her casket and gave thanks for her dedication to civil rights. Parks was the first woman and only the second Black person to receive the distinction.

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Rosa Parks biography and comprehension (KS2)

A biography and comprehension based on the life of civil rights activist Rosa Parks. Includes answers, ideas for role-play and a writing task. There is also a KS1 version of this resource – number 35182. 

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Rosa Parks primary resource

Discover the legacy of the civil rights campaigner.

This primary resource introduces children to the legacy of Civil Rights campaigner Rosa Parks. Discover the difference that Rosa Parks made when she refused to give up her seat on a bus. Why was Rosa arrested? Why did black people in her city boycott the buses? What year did Alabama end segregation?

Pupils will learn how Rosa Parks campaigned against discrimination and segregation based on skin colour, and the influence that has had on us today in our National Geographic Kids’ History primary resource sheet.

The teaching resource can be used in study group tasks for a simple explanation of significant events in the Civil Rights Movement, as a printed handout for each pupil to read themselves, or for display on the interactive whiteboard, as part of a whole class discussion.

Activity: Ask the children to discuss as class their thoughts on Rosa Parks’ decision to break the law when she refused to give up her seat on the bus for a white person. Despite the fact that we teach citizenship; that laws are made to benefit society and should be followed by all, can they agree as a class that her actions were justified? Why? What should/can people do when they feel the law is unjust? This can be used to open a wider discussion about lobbying or writing to an MP. Pupils could think about an issue that concerns them today, and write a letter to their school or MP. Pupils could write a newspaper article about Rosa Parks’ arrest in 1955, or the subsequent bus boycott. Children could design and write their own comic about her life.

N.B. The following information for mapping the resource documents to the school curriculum is specifically tailored to the English National Curriculum and Scottish Curriculum for Excellence . We are currently working to bring specifically tailored curriculum resource links for our other territories; including South Africa , Australia and New Zealand . If you have any queries about our upcoming curriculum resource links, please email: [email protected]

This History primary resource assists with teaching the following History objectives from the National Curriculum :  

• Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

National Curriculum Key Stage 1 History objective:

• Pupils should be taught: the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements. Some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods [for example, Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong, William Caxton and Tim Berners-Lee, Pieter Bruegel the Elder and LS Lowry, Rosa Parks and Emily Davison, Mary Seacole and/or Florence Nightingale and Edith Cavell]

This History primary resource assists with teaching the following Social Studies Second level objective from the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence :

• I can discuss why people and events from a particular time in the past were important, placing them within a historical sequence
• I can compare and contrast a society in the past with my own and contribute to a discussion of the similarities and differences

As a British values primary resource , this resource assists with promoting fundamental British values as part of SMSC (spiritual, moral, social and cultural development) in schools using the following OFSTED assessment criteria:

• It is expected that pupils should understand that while different people may hold different views about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, all people living in England are subject to its law.  
• Schools should promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
• Through their provision of SMSC, schools should: encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England.

The list below describes the understanding and knowledge expected of pupils as a result of schools promoting fundamental British values.  

• an understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process  
• an understanding that there is a separation of power between the executive and the judiciary, and that while some public bodies such as the police and the army can be held to account through Parliament, others such as the courts maintain independence

Through their provision of SMSC, schools should:

• enable students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;
• enable students to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;
• encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;
• further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures; 

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Rosa Parks Facts & Worksheets

Rosa parks facts and information activity worksheet pack and fact file. includes 5 activities aimed at students 11-14 years old (ks3) & 5 activities aimed at students 14-16 year old (gcse). great for home study or to use within the classroom environment., download rosa parks worksheets.

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• Early life and education of Rosa Parks
• Marriage of Rosa Parks to Raymond Parks
• Events during and after the Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Death and legacy of Rosa Parks

Key Facts And Information

Let’s find out more about rosa parks.

• Rosa Parks was a well-known American activist in the civil rights movement. She is best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the largest social movements in history. Her activism made her recognised as "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement". Despite her death in 2005, her contributions to the civil rights movement was so immense, that up till now, she continues to be recognised all over the world as a symbol of freedom and equality.

Early Life And Education

• Rosa Louise McCauley was born on 4 February 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her mother, Leona McCauley, was a teacher, and her father, James McCauley, was a carpenter.
• When Rosa was still a child, she suffered from poor health due to chronic tonsillitis. Though she stayed at Tuskegee with her parents, she moved with her mother to Montgomery after her parents separated.
• There, she grew up on a farm, with her maternal grandparents, mother, and younger brother, Sylvester, who were all members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). This organization was founded by free blacks in Philadelphia in the early 1900s, and was a century-old independent black denomination.
• Rosa, until the age of eleven, attended rural segregated schools. She took academic and vocational courses at the Industrial School for Girls in Montgomery. In her autobiography, she recalls the time she was shown kindness by white strangers; although, more often than not, she could not ignore the racism in her society everytime she was bullied by white children in her neighbourhood.
• Later on, she attended a laboratory school set up by Alabama State Teachers College for Negroes. However, her education was short-lived, as she dropped out of school to take care of her grandmother and mother, both of whom had became ill.
• In 1932, Rosa met and married Raymond Parks, who was a barber and an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
• Her husband’s activism made Rosa actively involved in civil rights issues. She also joined the Montgomery chapter of NAACP in 1943. Until 1957, she particularly served as the chapter’s youth leader and secretary to NAACP President E.D. Nixon.
• Despite them not having children throughout their lifetime, Raymond and Rosa had a happy marriage.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

• On 1 December 1955, Rosa, who was riding a bus on Montgomery’s Cleveland Avenue from her work as a seamstress at a local department store, was arrested and fined 10 USD as she refused to give her front-row seat to a white man. The incident occurred when the 'white section' of the bus was full and the driver, James F. Blake, ordered African-Americans in the front row to vacate their seats.
• Rosa’s resistance set in motion one of the largest social movements in history, the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Women's Political Council (WPC) members began mobilising the African-American people community, calling for a boycott of the Montgomery city buses. They distributed flyers and leaflets to reach all African-Americans to challenge the city ordinance.
• The boycott, which was organized by WPC President Jo Ann Robinson, gained the attention of the media, attracting more publicity. It was even advertised in the local newspaper, the Montgomery Advertiser.
• As the boycott continued to circulate in the media, landing on the front page of the Montgomery Advertiser, a general-interest newspaper, African-American leaders in Montgomery voiced their support. Black ministers also encouraged more supporters in church.
• On 5 December 1955, an estimate of 40,000 African-American bus riders responded to the boycott. That same afternoon, African-American leaders held a meeting to establish the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), during which Martin Luther King, Jr. was elected as the president.
• By 5 June 1956, a Montgomery federal court declared that any policies concerning racial segregation in city buses were against the law. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution stated that all citizens, regardless of race, should receive equal rights and protection.
• Following this, an appeal was filed by the city, but the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the lower court, therefore declaring racial segregation as unconstitutional on 20 December 1956, which also happened to be the last day of the boycott.

Aftermath Of The Boycott

• Even after the integration, a number of white people refused to cooperate. Segregated bus stops in Montgomery were still maintained.
• In 1957, incidents of violence were recorded, led by the white supremacist group, the Ku Klux Klan, who bombed African-American churches and the homes of known African-American leaders, including that of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s.
• The boycott sparked more mobilisations and demonstrations, which contributed to the American civil rights movement. King Jr. continued to lead large-scale protests, gaining international attention.
• On 9 September 1957, the Civil Rights Act of 1957 was enacted, as proposed by President Eisenhower in Congress, signifying support of the national government for racial equality. Moreover, in 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed, allowing African-American citizens to vote and participate in politics.

Life After The Boycott

• After the boycott, Rosa became an icon in the movement and was known as the “mother of the civil rights movement” and "the first lady of civil rights". The actual bus where she sat was displayed at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan.
• Despite becoming an icon or symbol of the movement, Rosa suffered hardship following the events of the boycott. She lost her job at the department store and her husband Raymond was fired after his boss forbade him to talk about Rosa or their case.
• As they were unable to find work, they moved to Detroit, Michigan, where Rosa worked as a secretary and receptionist in U.S. Representative John Conyers’ congressional office. Moreover, she served on the board of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
• During the mid-1960s, Rosa participated in activism nationally by supporting the Selma--Montgomery March, the Freedom Now Party, and the Lowndes County Freedom Organization. She also befriended another civil rights icon, Malcolm X, whom she regarded as a personal hero.
• Rosa organized the freedom of political prisoners in the U.S., specifically the cases involving issues of self-defense. She also helped found the Joann Little Defense Committee Detroit chapter.
• Healthwise, Rosa’s family suffered in the 1970s as they were plagued with various illnesses. For one, she and her husband Raymond suffered stomach ulcers for years. Since their illness required hospitalization, they suffered financially as Rosa wasn’t a wealthy woman, despite her fame and speaking engagements. Most of the money she got from speaking to civil rights causes, she had donated. She and her husband lived off her staff salary and Raymond’s pension.
• In 1977, both Rosa’s husband and her brother died of cancer. Her close friend, Fannie Lou Hamer, also died that very same year. Rosa also suffered two broken bones from falling on an icy sidewalk. Her physical injury, together with the trauma caused by the death of her loved ones, caused her considerable and recurring pain.
• She decided to move in with her mother to an apartment for senior citizens where she nursed her through the final stages of cancer and geriatric dementia until her mother died in 1979 at the age of 92.
• Widowed and without a family, Rosa shifted her dedication back to civil rights and educational organisations. In the 1980s, she co-founded the Rosa L. Parks Scholarship Foundation for college-bound high school seniors.
• In 1987, she also co-founded, together with Elaine Eason Steele, the organization named ‘Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development’, to introduce young people to important civil rights and Underground Railroad sites in the country through "Pathways to Freedom" bus tours. Though her health was declining, she still served on the Board of Advocates of Planned Parenthood and continued to make appearances related to her advocacies.
• In 1992, Rosa published her autobiography entitled ‘Rosa Parks: My Story’ that recalled her difficult life in the racist South.
• In 1994, in the United States Interstate 55 in St. Louis County and Jefferson County, Missouri, a highway section near St. Louis, was named the ‘Rosa Parks Highway’. When Rosa was asked how she felt about this honor, she commented, "It is always nice to be thought of”.
• In 1995, she published her memoir entitled ‘Quiet Strength’ that focused on the role of religion throughout her life.

Death And Legacy

• In 2004, Rosa had been diagnosed with progressive dementia. On 24 October 2005, 92-year old Rosa died a natural death in her apartment in Detroit, Michigan. Her death was marked by several memorial services, among them the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. where about 50,000 people attended to view her casket. Shortly after her death, she was interred in the chapel’s mausoleum at Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery (later renamed the ‘Rosa L. Parks Freedom’ chapel).
• During her lifetime, she received many accolades, including NAACP’s highest award, the Spingarn Medal. She also received the prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. Award.
• On 15 September 1996, she was awarded by President Bill Clinton the highest honor given by the U.S. executive branch, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1997, she was awarded the highest honor given by the US legislative branch, the Congressional Gold Medal.
• In 1999, TIME magazine named Rosa as one of “The 20 Most Influential People of the 20th Century”. Though she is long gone, Rosa’s contributions to the civil rights movement was so immense, that up till now, she continues to be recognised all over the world as a symbol of freedom and equality.

Image sources:

• https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Rosaparks.jpg
• https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ec/Montgomery_Industrial_School.jpg
• https://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/streams/2013/august/130827/8c8761564-pb-130827-bruce-davidson-nj-06.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000.jpg

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Rosa Parks Mini Biography

Subject: English

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Other

Last updated

15 October 2017

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Rosa Parks Facts & Worksheets

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Table of Contents

Rosa Parks was an activist in the African-American Civil Rights Movement , who became famous when on December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama , she refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake’s order that she give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger, after the white section was filled.

See the fact file below for more facts and information on Rosa Parks or download the double-bundle worksheet collection which includes over 30 worksheets to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Quick Facts:

Name Rosa Louise McCauley

Date of Birth February 4, 1913

Date of Death October 24, 2005

Place of Birth Tuskegee, Alabama

Birth Family James McCauley and Leona Edwards

Marriage/Spouse Raymond Parks

Children no children

Education Montgomery Industrial School for Girls, al-African American Booker T. Washington High School and attended Alabama State College for a short time

Career Seamstress, Civil Rights Activist, Writer

Reason for Fame Most historians date the beginning of the civil rights movement in the United States to December 1, 1955. On that day, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. She was arrested and fined for violating a city ordinance, but her act of defiance began a movement that ended legal segregation in America and made her an inspiration to freedom-loving people everywhere. Rosa Parks is called the Mother of the modern-day Civil Rights Movement

Additional Information Rosa Parks received many awards and honors which included the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal. She was awarded two dozen honorary doctorates from universities worldwide.

Further Facts:

• Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (1903-2005) was an African American civil rights activist and seamstress whom the U.S. Congress dubbed as the “Mother of the Modern-day Civil Rights Movement.”
• She was born on February 4, 1913, and grew up in the southern United States in Alabama . Her mother was a teacher and her father was a carpenter. She had a younger brother named Sylvester.
• After finishing her elementary school at Pine Level, she attended the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls. She then attended the Alabama State Teacher’s College to try and get her high school diploma. But her education was cut short because she had to take care of her sick mother.
• Few years later, she met Raymond Parks and married in the year 1932. She then worked part-time jobs and went back to school, finally earning her high school diploma.
• Growing up witnessing the racism in the south, Rosa and her husband Raymond wanted to do something about it. So they joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
• Rosa saw the opportunity to make a difference when the Freedom bus arrived in Montgomery. The train, according to the Supreme Court, was supposed to be unsegregated, so she led a group of African-American students to ride the train. Their group lined up in the same line as the white students. Some people in Montgomery didn’t approve of this. Rosa wanted to show that all people should be given the same equal treatment.
• On December 1, 1955, after a hard day’s work, Rosa settled on her seat on the bus. All seats on the bus had filled up when a white man boarded. The bus driver asked Rosa and some other African-Americans to give up their seats but Rosa refused, and for that, she was arrested.
• Rosa was charged with breaking a segregation law and was told to pay a fine of $10. Refusing to pay, saying she was not guilty and that the law was illegal, Rosa took her case to the high court.
• That night, a number of African-American leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. decided to boycott the city buses and continued on for 381 days. Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the segregation laws in Alabama were unconstitutional.
• Rosa received many threats and feared for her life. Many civil rights leaders’ houses were bombed, including MLK Jr.’s, so in 1957, Raymond and Rosa moved to Detroit, Michigan.
• There, she continued to attend civil rights meetings and became a symbol to many African-Americans of the fight for equal rights. On October 24, 2005, at the age of 92, she quietly died in her apartment in Detroit.
• Today, she remains a symbol of freedom and equality to many.

Rosa Parks Worksheets

This is a double bundle addition which includes over 30 ready-to-use Rosa Parks worksheets which are perfect for students to learn about Rosa Parks who was an activist in the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

Worksheet Collection 1:

• Rosa Parks Facts
• Rosa Parks Timeline
• News Report
• The Bus Effect
• Rosa Parks Song I
• Rosa Parks Song II
• Googling Rosa Parks
• The Inspiring Rosa Parks
• Past and Present

Worksheet Collection 2:

• Rosa Parks Word Search
• Rosa Parks Fact File
• Passenger in the Bus
• Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Courageous Rosa
• King and Parks
• Dear Rosa…
• Just Like Rosa…

Frequently Asked Questions

What was rosa park famous for.

When Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man on December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, she was arrested and sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott by 17,000 black citizens.

What changes did Rosa Parks make?

In Montgomery, 1955, Mrs. Parks refused to follow a bus driver’s demands that she give up her seat in the “colored” section to a white person once the white section had filled up. Consequently, this sparked a successful boycott of buses directed at integration shortly thereafter.

Did Rosa Parks change the law?

The US Supreme Court’s decision that Montgomery’s segregation laws were unconstitutional allowed black people to sit in any bus seat, inspiring other equality movements throughout the United States. Parks became a hero to those striving for African American equality.

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Rosa Parks: Timeline of Her Life, Montgomery Bus Boycott and Death

After the bus boycott, Parks continued to participate in the civil rights movement. She attended the March on Washington in 1963 and in 1965 witnessed the signing of the Voting Rights Act . Her later years saw Parks' work recognized with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.

The following timeline covers notable events and achievements in Parks' long and remarkable life:

February 4, 1913: Rosa Louise McCauley born in Tuskegee, Alabama to James and Leona McCauley

1919: A six-year-old Parks begins picking cotton alongside her grandparents. She also starts attending a segregated school in Pine Level, Alabama.

1924: As there is no local school for Black children to attend after the sixth grade, McCauley goes to Miss White’s Montgomery Industrial School for Girls in Montgomery, Alabama.

1929: Parks leaves school in the 11th grade to care for her ill grandmother and mother.

1931: While Parks is working as a housekeeper for a white family, a white neighbor attempts to rape her .

1931: Parks is introduced to Raymond Parks, whom she later described as being the first activist she encountered.

December 18, 1932: Rosa weds Raymond Parks

1933: Parks returns to school and obtains her high school diploma, a notable accomplishment at a time when very few Black people in Alabama held this degree.

1941: Parks starts work at Maxwell Air Force Base, which has an integrated cafeteria and trolley system.

December 1943: Parks joins the Montgomery branch of the NAACP

As the only woman at her first meeting, she is named secretary of the group. Parks' work for the NAACP will also include investigating crimes against Black people such as murder, assaults and police brutality.

Parks attempts to register to vote but is told she failed the literacy test required of Black voters.

September 1944: Recy Taylor, a Black woman, is gang-raped by six white men. The Montgomery NAACP dispatches Parks to investigate the case.

Parks helps establish the Committee for Equal Justice for the Rights of Mrs. Recy Taylor to advocate for legal action against Taylor's assailants. The case becomes national news but the rapists are never convicted.

1945: After taking the required literacy test for a third time, Parks becomes a registered voter. Yet before she can cast a ballot, she must pay a retroactive poll tax of $1.50 for every year since she reached the voting age of 21.

1948 : Parks becomes the Alabama state secretary for the NAACP.

1949: Parks steps back as NAACP secretary to take care of her mother.

1952: Parks returns to the Montgomery NAACP and once more becomes a branch secretary.

August 1955: Parks attends a two-week training session at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. Alongside other civil rights activists, both Black and white, she discusses how to integrate schools following the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954.

December 1, 1955: In Montgomery, Parks defies a bus driver's order to let a white man take her seat

The driver, who had treated Parks rudely and evicted her from his bus in 1943, contacts the police and she is arrested.

December 5, 1955: Though Parks was not the first Black woman arrested for defying segregation on city buses, news of her case spurs the Black community to begin a boycott of Montgomery buses .

Parks' trial takes place. She is found guilty and fined $10, plus $4 in court costs. Her lawyers file an appeal.

January 7, 1956: Parks is let go from her job as a tailor's assistant at the Montgomery Fair department store.

January 1956: Raymond quits his barbershop job after discussion of his wife and the boycott is forbidden.

February 21, 1956: Along with dozens of other civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. , Parks is indicted for violating a Montgomery law outlawing boycotts.

February 22, 1956: Parks is among a group of indicted boycott leaders who present themselves for arrest. She is quickly released. The case against Parks is eventually dismissed.

1956: During the boycott, Parks serves as a dispatcher to coordinate carpools. She also travels across the country to speak about the boycott.

December 21, 1956: Following a Supreme Court ruling that segregated buses are unconstitutional, the 381-day boycott ends. Parks is photographed sitting at the front of a bus for Look magazine.

August 1957: Unable to find work in Montgomery and still facing threats for her role in the bus boycott, Parks and her family depart for Detroit

October 1957: Parks becomes a hostess at the Holly Tree Inn, part of the Hampton Institute in Virginia, but leaves after the fall semester in 1958 to rejoin her husband and mother in Detroit.

1959: Parks begins doing piecework for Detroit's Stockton Sewing Company, a job she holds through 1964.

July 1960: A Jet magazine article reveals that Parks and her family have been struggling financially, due in part to her health problems.

August 28, 1963: Parks attends the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom . No women are invited to speak at the event, but Parks is among those singled out for a "Tribute to Women" in the civil rights movement.

March 1, 1965: Parks takes a job in the Detroit office of newly elected Congressman John Conyers, where her tasks include answering phones and aiding constituents. She stays in this position until her retirement in 1988.

March 25, 1965: Parks joins the march to Montgomery for equal voting rights. Many of the marchers do not recognize her but in the end she is acknowledged and invited to speak at the capitol building.

August 6, 1965: Parks is among those present to witness President Lyndon Johnson's signing of the Voting Rights Act.

July 23, 1967: Parks is in Detroit during five days of rioting. Amid the upheaval, her husband's barbershop is destroyed.

August 30, 1967: A "People's Tribunal" is held regarding the deaths of three young Black men during the Detroit riots. Parks serves on the jury, which finds the police who were at the scene guilty (the officers faced no such repercussions in the legal system).

August 19, 1977: Parks' husband, Raymond, dies.

August 1979: The NAACP presents Parks with its highest accolade, the Spingarn Medal.

January 14, 1980: Parks is given the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize

1987: Parks establishes the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, intended to help young people better understand the past and prepare for their futures.

1992: Rosa Parks: My Story , an autobiography for younger readers, is published.

August 30, 1994: Parks is robbed and beaten by a mugger inside her home.

October 16, 1995: At the invitation of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, Parks attends the Million Man March in Washington, D.C.

1994: Another book by Parks, entitled Quiet Strength , is published.

September 15, 1996: Parks is presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton .

June 15, 1999: Parks receives the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest legislative honor in the United States.

April 14, 2005: Parks and the hip-hop group Outkast reach an out-of-court settlement regarding their 1998 song "Rosa Parks."

October 24, 2005: Parks dies at the age of 92

Her body is brought to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, the first time for a woman to receive this recognition.

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