The Ciivil Rights Activist Rosa Parks: One Goal and One Dream

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“I refuse!” Rosa Parks was an African American lady who did not move to the back of the bus. She wanted to be treated like a human being. Rosa Parks, who was 42 years old at the time, wanted to make a difference in blacks. She refused to move to the back of the bus, and then started the Montgomery Bus Boycott with Martin Luther King Jr. Eventually, Rosa was a member of the NAACP and acted as a leader to stop segregation in the South.
The civil rights activist, Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. Rosa’s childhood brought her early experiences with racial discrimination and activism for racial equality. After her parents separated, Rosa’s mother moved the family to Pine Level, Alabama to live with her parents. Rosa’s mother taught her to read at a young age. When she was younger Rosa attended many segregated schools. In 1929, she attended a laboratory school for secondary education led by the Alabama State Teachers College for Negroes. Then she had to leave school to take care of her mother and grandmother. However, Rosa never returned to her studies; instead, she got a job at a shirt factory in Montgomery. In 1932, at age 19, Rosa met and married Raymond Parks. He was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Later on, Rosa earned her high school degree in 1933. She soon became actively involved in civil rights issues by joining the Montgomery chapter of the NACCP in 1943.
One day on December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks took a seat on the bus on her way home from the Montgomery Fair department store where she worked as a seamstress. The bus driver demanded her to move back and Rosa refused. She was arrested that day for vio...

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...lved if Rosa Parks did move. Many African Americans would have listened to the white driver and moved, but Rosa had a lot of guts and heart to stand up for herself because she truly wanted this violence to end and never have blacks suffered again. Rosa Parks will always live in people’s heart and she will never be forgotten.

Works Cited
Bredhoff, Stacey, Wynell Schamel, and Lee Ann Potter. "The Arrest Records of Rosa Parks." Social Education 63, 4 (May/June 1999): 207-211.

Garrow, David J. "Modest Hero, Civil Rights Icon." Christian Science Monitor. Oct. 26 2005: N.P. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.

Ragghianti, Marie. "'I Wanted to Be Treated Like a Human Being'." Parade. Jan. 19 1992: 20-21. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.

"Rosa Parks Profile." -- Academy of Achievement. N.P., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.

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