I am doing my report on Rosa Parks. Everyone knows about the story of Rosa Parks on the bus that day. However, I am going to look at where she came from before she became such an important person in black history. She went from just being a young girl without an education to becoming one of the commonly known people that have stood up for what they believe in. So get ready to learn a lot because there are some things about Rosa Parks that you would be surprised to hear.
Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4th, 1913. She went to an all black school in Pine Level. It was a one room school house with only one teacher, and there were about 60 kids in each class and it ranged from first to sixth grade. Obviously, the white schools were much nicer than this. That was the first time that Rosa Parks realized that blacks and whites were treated differently. In the seventh grade things began to change for Rosa.
In seventh grade she had to go to a new school in Montgomery, Alabama and then she became even more aware of the segregation between whites and blacks. She had to move all the way to the back of the school bus so that the white kids could sit in the front and she was not allowed to drink from the same fountain as the white kids. Then when she was sixteen her grandmother got sick and she had to drop out of school in the eleventh grade to take care of her, but sadly she died shortly after. Then after her grandmother's death her mother became ill and Rosa had to nurse her back to health. Then Rosa's friend introduced her to one of her own friends.
Rosa was introduced to Raymond Parks. At first Rosa didn’t like him, but eventually they began to date and she got married when she was 19. Then in one year Raymond convinced her to go back to school and she did. Rosa began to work at the NAACP. She was a secretary and worked directly for the local branch. She was usually given assignments where she had to write up cases of segregation against blacks. Then one day she had a long day at work and had to take the bus.
It was on December 1st that Rosa had a long day at work and when she got on the bus she sat in the first row of seats for black people. At the next stop when several white people came on the bus the driver told her and the rest of the people in her row to give up their seat. The rest of them moved, but Rosa said no. So the bus driver called the police and she was arrested. Then when she went to court they found her guilty and the MIA (Montgomery Improvement Association) helped Rosa by starting the Montgomery Bus Boycott which began on December 5th, 1955. All the black people in the area were notified and they stopped using the busses and used some other form of transportation. Eventually this matter was taken to the Supreme Court and they had voted that segregation on buses in Montgomery were to stop and this convinced other cities to start their own boycott.
After the Montgomery Bus Boycott Rosa, her husband, and her mother moved to Detroit, Michigan. She is well known for refusing to give up her seat for a white man in December 1st, 1955. Rosa remained active during her whole life in the Civil Rights Movement. Then she sadly died in 2005 at the age of 92. Rosa Parks was a great African American hero. She inspires me because of her courage to stand up for what is right. I want to be able to have the courage to do what is right even if I am standing alone.
| Year | |
| 1913 | Rosa Louise McCauley was born |
| 1932 | Marries Raymond Parks |
| 1933 | Goes back to school after dropping out |
| 1955 | Goes to jail for not giving up her seat to a white man |
| 1955 | The Montgomery Bus Boycott begins |
| 1956 | The Supreme Court vote that segregation is unfair |
| 1956 | Rosa and her family move to Detroit |
