Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks was an African American civil rights activist who became a symbol of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama, Parks grew up in a family that valued education and social justice. She was raised by her mother, Leona McCauley Edwards, after her father's death, and was educated at the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls. Parks worked as a seamstress and a housekeeper, and was an active member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Parks' most famous act of defiance occurred on December 1, 1955, when she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus to a white person, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., lasted for 381 days and ended with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. Parks' courageous act of resistance and her role in the boycott made her an icon of the civil rights movement, and she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999. Throughout her life, Parks continued to advocate for civil rights and social justice, and her legacy continues to inspire generations of activists and leaders.