Rosa Parks sparked a 381-day bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama when she refused to give up her seat. (Bettmann / Corbis)
Remembering Rosa Parks
The nation honors the civil rights icon on her 100th birthday
The Rosa Parks Library at Troy University in Alabama honors Parks’s contributions to civil rights. (Rob Carr / AP Images)
America is celebrating the 100th birthday of civil rights icon Rosa Parks.
Parks was born on February 4, 1913. For the first 42 years of her life, she was an ordinary citizen. But all that changed during a single bus ride.
Parks lived and worked in Montgomery, Alabama, during a time of intense racism. As a black person, she wasn’t allowed to sit in the same places as white people in restaurants, to use the same bathrooms or even doors as white people, or to attend the same schools. The practice of keeping people apart is called segregation.
On December 1, 1955, Parks boarded a bus after a long workday. She sat down in the first row of seats in the “colored” section. This section was behind the seats where white people were allowed to sit. But as the bus filled up and more white people got on, the bus driver demanded that Parks give up her seat. She refused.
The driver called the police and Parks was arrested.
Parks's act of defiance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a turning point in the Civil Rights movement. A boycott is a type of protest in which people refuse to use a service or buy a product.
Under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, citizens were urged not to ride the bus until the unfair laws were changed. The Montgomery boycott lasted 381 days, until the U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation on public buses.
AN EVERYDAY HERO
In an interview from 1956, Parks explained why she refused to give up her seat. “I would have to know once and for all what rights I had as a human being and a citizen,” Parks said.
Almost overnight, the arrest turned Parks into a hero. She inspired a new generation of civil rights advocates. She also became a leader in her own right in the fight for equality.
“She had a unique personality,” says Donna Braden, curator of the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The museum houses the bus that Parks rode on that historic day. “She was also an ordinary person. When people heard about what she did, they thought, ‘I can do that too.’ ”
Parks continued to fight for equal rights until her death on October 24, 2005. When she died, her casket was placed in the rotunda of the United States Capitol for two days so people could honor her. This is usually reserved for U.S. Presidents. Parks was the first woman and the second African-American to receive this honor.
LEGACY OF A LEGEND
Although Rosa Parks was an ordinary person, she showed that anyone can make a difference if they stand up—or in this case, sit down—for what they think is right.
Decades after Parks’s refusal to give up her seat, she still influences and inspires people—including kids. Students today think that what Parks did nearly 60 years ago was special.
“Rosa Parks did a simple thing that began something big,” says Emily, a student at Emerson School, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
On Friday, President Barack Obama gave a special proclamation in honor of the hero’s 100th birthday.
“Just wanting to get home after a long day at work,” the President said, “Rosa Parks may not have been planning to make history, but her defiance spurred a movement that advanced our journey toward justice and equality for all.”
Molly Pribble is a member of the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps.
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March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World
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March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World
by Dr. Christine King Farris and London Ladd
$14.39 You save: 20%
2009 Andrew Carnegie Medal Winner
From Dr. Martin Luther King's sister, the definitive tribute to the man, the march, and the speech that changed a nation.
On a hot August day in 1963, hundreds of thousands of people made history when they marched into Washington, D.C., in search of equality. Martin Luther King, Jr., the younger brother of Christine King Farris, was one of them.
Martin was scheduled to speak to the crowds of people on that day. But before he could stand up and inspire a nation, he had to get down to business. He first had to figure out what to say and how to say it. So he spent all night working on his "I Have a Dream" speech, one that would underscore a landmark moment in civil rights history -- the Great March on Washington. This would be one of the first events televised all over the globe. The world would be listening, as one of the greatest orators of our time shared his vision for a new day.
From the sister of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., comes this moving account of what that day was like for her, and for the man who inspired a crowd -- and convinced a nation to let freedom ring.
London Ladd's beautiful full-color illustrations bring to life the thousands of people from all over the country who came to the nation's capital. They sing, they join hands, they march, and they listen as speaker after speaker inspires social change, culminating in Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
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Belle Teal
Newbery Honor author Ann M. Martin's gripping, widely acclaimed novel of a girl confronting the perils of friendship and the conflicts of community.
Belle Teal's life isn't easy, but she gets by. She lives with her mother and grandmother far out in the country. They don't have much money, but Belle Teal feels rich with their love. As school begins, Belle Teal faces unexpected challenges. Her best friends are up against some big problems. And there are two new students in Belle Teal's class: a shy boy caught in the town's furor over desegregation, and a snob who has problems of her own. As her world falls apart, Belle Teal discovers the importance of sticking together.
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