Rosa Parks

Nowhere does it say that Rosa Parks can not sit on that bus. The Montgomery Code required all public transportation was segregated (Kishel, 2006). The city claimed that the bus drivers had the "powers of a police officer of the city while in actual charge of any bus for the purposes of carrying out the provisions" of the code (Kishel, 2006). While driving the bus, drivers were required to provide separate but equal accommodations for white and black passengers by assigning seats. This was completed by a single line roughly in the middle of the bus allowing white passengers in the front of the bus and African-American passengers in the back (Kishel, 2006). When an African-American passenger boarded the bus, they had to get on at the front to
Parks won the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP's highest award, and the prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. Award. On September 9, 1996, President Bill Clinton awarded Parks the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given by the United States' executive branch. The following year, she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award given by the U.S. legislative branch. In 1999, TIME magazine had Rosa Parks on its list of "The 20 most influential People of the 20th Century." Rosa was greatly recognized for all the sacrifices she made during her lifetime. On October 24, 2005, at the age of 92, Rosa Parks died quietly in her apartment in Detroit, Michigan. She was diagnosed the previous year with progressive dementia. Her death was marked by several memorial services, among them lying in state at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., where an estimated 50,000 people viewed her casket. Rosa was laid to rest between her husband and mother at Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery, in the chapel's mausoleum. After her death, the chapel was renamed the Rosa L. Parks Freedom Chapel. Parks fought her whole life for equal rights and she died having achieved her lifelong
The actions of Rosa led many to stand up for what they believed in. From the time she was a child to later in her life she knew she was going to make a difference.After she refused to get off the bus many African Americans went on strike following her actions in order to gain equal rights. Many people looked to her for courage and for guidance as they faced discrimination. Rosa Parks took the first strides against racism and many soon followed. Rosa Parks proved that it only takes one person to make a difference, and others will