Often referred to as the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movementâ€, Rosa Parks began her life on February 4, 1913 as Rosa Louise McCauley in Alabama. She was part African, part Native American Indian and part Scot-Irish. As an adult, Parks was involved with the NAACP and a dedicated civil rights activist. She changed the course of history on December 1, 1955 when she refused to relinquish her bus seat to a white passenger. For this seemingly innocuous act, Rosa Parks was jailed and instantly became an iconic heroine and symbol of the Movement. As a result of her conviction, her fellow activists were inspired to conduct a one-day citywide boycott of buses in Birmingham, Alabama. The boycott was so effective that Civil Rights leaders decided to continue the strike for more than a year. In 1979, Rosa Parks was awarded the Spingarn Medal (the NAACP’s highest award), and in 1996 President Clinton presented Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given by the U.S. executive branch. A remarkable woman indeed!
