Rosa Louise McCauley Parks or Rosa Parks was an African-American civil rights activist known for starting the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a watershed in the US Civil Rights Movement. If you are looking for Rosa Parks facts for kids, you are at the right place. Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. She refused to give up her seat for a white passenger on a bus on December 1, 1955. This act eventually led to her arrest and trial. The incident sparked widespread outrage and gave way to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and nationwide movement demanding the end of segregation. Read on as we more interesting facts about the civil rights activist.
Rosa Parks Biography For Kids
Early life and family
Rosa Louisa McCauley was born to James McCauley and Leona McCauley. Her mother was a teacher, and her father was a carpenter. Rosa’s parents separated when she was two, after which her mother moved with Rosa and her younger brother, Sylvester, to Pine Level, Alabama to live with their grandparents.
Education
Rosa Parks attended the rural school at Pine Level and then moved to the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls after turning 11. Later, she attended a laboratory school for secondary education run by the Alabama State Teachers College. She, however, left school to tend to her sick grandmother and mother in Pine Level. She finally received her high school diploma in 1934, after her marriage.
Marriage
Rosa married Raymond Parks in 1932. She was 19 then. Mr. Parks was a barber from Montgomery and was also a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Raymond encouraged her to complete her high school. Rosa joined the NAACP in 1943. She was the youth leader and also went on to become the secretary of the NAACP President, E.D. Dixon.
Impact Of Rosa Parks’ Arrest
On December 1, 1955, Rosa, then 42 and working as a seamstress, boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus to go home after a busy day at work. She paid for her ticket and took a seat in the first row of the seats designated for people of color. As the bus filled with passengers, the driver noticed that a white man was standing in the aisle because there were no empty seats. He asked the four Black passengers sitting in the first row of the seats to give up their seats for the white passengers. Three of the passengers seated in the row obliged, but Rosa remained seated and refused to get up. When the driver asked her, “Are you going to stand up?” she replied, “No.” The driver called the police and got her arrested for civil disobedience. In protest of her arrest, African-Americans boycotted city bus service on December 5, 1955, the day of Rosa’s trial. People stayed at home, took a cab, or walked to work or school. Around 90% of Black citizens in Montgomery participated in the boycott. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted for 381 days (13 months) and ended only when the Supreme Court desegregated public transit vehicles. The boycott ended on December 20, 1956, making it one of the biggest and most successful civil rights movements against racial segregation of all time.
Life After The Bus Boycott
Although Rosa Parks gained popularity, became a symbol of equal rights, and was called “the mother of the civil rights movement,” she faced many problems in her personal and professional life. She and her husband lost their jobs. Eventually, as they could not find work in Montgomery, Rosa and Raymond Parks moved to Detroit in Michigan. There, Rosa worked as a secretary and receptionist in U.S. Representative John Conyers’ office. In 1987, she founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development. This organization conducts bus tours called “Pathways to Freedom” and acquaints young people with their civil rights.
28 Rosa Parks Facts For Kids
Rosa Parks was a strong lady with an extraordinary story. Here are a few facts about Rosa Parks that will inspire children.
“I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.” “We didn’t have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next.” “Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.”
