Rosa Louise McCauley Parks

1913-2005

May She Rest in Peace

By Montgomery Boycott

Born Rosa Louise McCauley on Feb. 4, 1913, in Tuskegee to James McCauley, a carpenter, and Leona Edwards McCauley, a teacher. Her father left the family when Rosa was very young. She grew up on a farm with her grandparents, mother, and brother; for most of her adult life she worked as a seamstress. Her mother often advised her to "take advantage of the opportunities, no matter how few they are." 

Her husband, Raymond Parks, was a barber active in black voter registration and other civil rights causes. He died in 1977, the same year her brother, Sylvester, died. She had no children born to her, but she has said, "I consider all children as mine."

Rosa Parks finished high school in 1934. She has received more than two dozen honorary doctorates, including one from Soka University in Tokyo.

In the early 1950s, Parks became active in the American Civil Rights Movement and worked as a secretary for the Montgomery, Alabama branch of the NAACP. Just six months before her arrest, she had attended the Highlander Folk School, an education center for workers' rights and racial equality.

On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Parks, while sitting in the black section of the bus, refused to obey a public bus driver's orders to give up her seat to a white man and move to the back of the bus to make extra seats for whites. Rosa was tired of being treated as a second-class citizen and stood firmly. She was arrested, tried, and convicted for disorderly conduct and for violating a local ordinance.

Afterwards, Parks became an icon of the civil rights movement. At her brother's urging, she moved to Detroit in the early 1960s and served on the staff of U. S. Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan) from 1965 until 1988.

Washington, DC - Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement in honor of the life and legacy of Rosa Parks:

"Today we mourn the passing of Rosa Parks, the mother of the modern civil rights movement. On a December day in 1955, Mrs. Parks, in one simple yet crystallizing act of moral clarity, gave voice and form to the struggle for civil rights and equality in our country. And, in so doing, Mrs. Parks pushed us to be a better nation.

"Mrs. Parks will long be remembered for her courage on that bus in Montgomery, Alabama, which sparked the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott led by civil rights leaders such as E.D. Nixon, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Rev. Ralph Abernathy. This moment sparked an historic beginning and paved the way for the historic 1964 Civil Rights Act which banned racial discrimination in public facilities, but her courage and commitment to civil rights began much earlier and reaches far deeper.

"As a nation, we are all thankful for her courageous contributions. Today, in honor of Mrs. Parks' legacy, we must be committed to fighting the inequities that remain and championing fundamental rights for all whether it is voting rights, equality for immigrants or a commitment to end poverty in America. This is the true legacy of Rosa Parks which will live on long after her passing."