Preview

Rosa Parks Research Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1320 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Rosa Parks Research Paper
The Life of Rosa Parks

Debra Jander

Composition I - 200

Instructor: Janet Smith

August 31, 2013

Rosa Parks (1913- 2005) was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her mother worked as a teacher and her father worked as a carpenter. When her parents separated she lived with her mother and grandparents.
…show more content…

Until in 1932 when she met and married Raymond Parks, who encouraged her to go back and finish school. Later Rosa Joined the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of colored people) in 1943 which she did for three years.

What triggered Rosa’s rebellion was the murder of a young boy of 14 years who was on vacation from Chicago, by white men. The boy’s name was Emmett Till. This was just the start of her rage which finally made her protest against giving up her seat on the bus. Rosa dedicated her live to fighting for justice, voting rights and desegregation, which finally lead to her arrest. After her arrest she was fired from her job and her husband left his as part of the conditions of his employment, because he would not discuss his wife’s legal situation.

The city of Montgomery had rules where all public transportation would be segregated; the bus was to be split down the middle giving equal seating for both blacks and whites. The drivers of said buses had the right to enforce this code just as if they were police officers. Both races paid their way on to the bus but the blacks had to enter from the back of the bus and if there were not enough seating then the white people got seats even if they had to make someone get up from the seat they were sitting
…show more content…

On the morning of December 5,which was the day that Rosa’ was scheduled to go to trial, a group of leaders from the African-American community gathered at the Mt. Zion Church in Montgomery to discuss strategies, and determined that their boycott effort required a new organization and strong leadership. They formed the Montgomery Improvement Association, electing Montgomery newcomer Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as minister of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

On October 24, 2005, at the age of 92, Rosa Parks quietly died in her apartment in Detroit, Michigan. She had been 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 interred between her husband and mother at Detroit 's Woodlawn Cemetery, in the chapel 's mausoleum. Shortly after her death, the chapel was renamed the Rosa L. Parks Freedom


You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    February 4th, 1913 Rosa Louise McCarley Parks was born. Rosa was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. Rosa being the oldest sister to her brother Sylvester McCauley she was a role model not only to her little brother but to others. She passed away October 24th, 2005. Till this day she is honored for what she has done for freedom. This is her story.…

    • 88 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist. She was born February 4, 1913. She was raised in Tuskegee, Alabama. Rosa Parks moved in 1957 to Detroit, Michigan. Rosa refused to give up her seat on a greyhound bus. Rosa’s action lead to the bus boycott. Rosa Parks died on October 24, 2005. Rosa actions led to the bus boycott. Rosa was symbol of the power of nonviolent protests. Rosa Parks is called the mother of civil rights movement. Rosa had to surrender her seat on her way home from work.…

    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    December 1, 1955 an African American woman named Rosa Parks, a member of the National Association…

    • 329 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    First important thing about Rosa Parks was when she got arrested it started a worldwide boycott were the blacks would refuses to ride the bus and they would walk where ever they had to go cause they didn't think rosa parks getting arrested was not right cause she paid to sit in her seat and the bus driver said if you don't give up your seat you will go to gail and rosa parks said that was fine and she was arrested and taken to jail and that started the world wide boycott.…

    • 235 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    To understand Rosa Park’s role in civil disobedience, one must first have knowledge of her personal life. Born as Rosa Louise McCauley to James McCauley…

    • 746 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rosa Parks Research Paper

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Rosa parks had changed history. Rosa parks was born on February 4, 1913, and died October 24, 2005, at the age 92. Rosa Parks had a very exciting childhood, and had only one sibling. On December 1, 1995, while riding a bus, Mrs.Parks refused to give her seat to a white man, which was against Alabama's racial segregation laws. Because Mrs.Parks was african american, she had to move off of her seat. When Mrs.Parks refused to give her seat to a white man, the bus driver had told her to get off, but she refused. Consequently, Mrs.parks was arrested and she influenced towards the new movement called the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a period of about 381 days, which included more than 90% of african americans not riding the bus. The Montgomery Bus Boycott left a lot of white people unhappy. After the long period of not riding the bus, profits were low. Bus drivers did not make as much money as they did before the bus boycott started. Because bus profits were so low, the government had no choice, but to charge an even higher tax on taxi cars and on public buses. The government had ordered taxi drivers to now charge forty five cents per person, and if they refused they would go to jail. When Rosa parks was in jail,(which she lasted only one night in) Jo Ann Robinson (one of the first leaders of the boycott) had stayed up all night working on flyers that she had planned to hang up about the boycott. When Rosa Parks had finally gone out of jail, she was surprised that her actions took such great impact on society. Once Mrs.Parks had continued to protest, black churches across the country had donated shoes to protesters. They had donated shoes to protesters because they knew that protesting involved a lot of walking , and that wore out shoes. Rosa Parks was important during the civil rights movement because she proved that no matter what race you are, you have the right to stand up for your rights no matter what it…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In 1955 she was told by a bus driver to give up her seat for a white man. Rosa did not get up so she was put in jail. She moved to Detroit,Mich,in 1957. In 1932 rosa married Raymond Parks,a barber.…

    • 195 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rosa Parks was and still is a role model for the African American youth. Rosa wanted everyone to feel special and capable of accomplishing whatever they desire. “’Mrs. Parks is a role model that these students look up to , and they feel very honored and privileged to be in her company.’” She wanted to motivate young people to make a difference so that when she grew old there was no more segregation. Therefore she wanted to do something about this problem, and she wasn’t alone. Rosa wanted racial harmony with everyone in the community. “‘Our mistreatment was, just not right, and I was tired of it.’” The cruel mistreatment many African Americans were receiving was horrible and they were fed up and were about to take it in their own hands.…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rosa Parks claimed that the NAACP was considering filing a lawsuit against Montgomery bus segregation, but needed a strong case (Parks 110). That's where Rosa came in; during this time, African Americans vastly outnumbered the Caucasians when it came to riding the bus. It was reported that 50,000 African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama and the majority of them rode the bus (Parks 109). When Rosa decided to not stand up on December 1st, 1955 and the NAACP started the bus boycott, it impacted the whole bus system because it downed them in money (Parks #). The African-Americans finally had the power to control the white society, once they tasted the power they never wanted to go back. This is the time when many things changed for the African…

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rosa Parks Research Paper

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Rosa Parks was a black American who it has been said, started the black civil rights movement. Rosa Parks was fro Montgomery, and in Montgomery they had a local low that black people were only allowed to sit in a few seats on the public buses and if a white person wanted their set, they would have to give it up. On one bus journey Parks was asked to move for a white person, she refused and the police were call and she was arrested and convicted of breaking the bus laws.…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rosa Parks was a woman of her word. She had no children. Her mom’s name was Leona Edwards. Her dad's name was James McCauley her dad was a carpenter.When Parks’s was a girl in school she had to walk to school. She became a symbol of struggle and freedom. She stopped segregation and she was then respected by many people. She was known as the mother of civil rights.…

    • 673 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist in the nineteen fifties. Her protesting lead to one of the largest boycotts in history, lasting for three hundred eighty-five days. She won many awards for her protesting and leadership, even having a few become named after her. Before she refused to leave her bus seat, to the rest of the world, she was just another woman oppressed for her race. Afterwards, she became one of the most recognized civil rights activists our country has ever seen. She died a woman that many consider not only the mother of civil rights, but an American hero.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On December 1, 1955, the NAACP member boarded a public bus and took a seat in the “Negro” section in the back of the bus. Later, Parks refused to relinquish her seat to a white passenger, defying the law by which blacks were required to give up their seats to white passengers when the front section, reserved for whites, was filled (Polsgrove, 2001). Parks was immediately arrested. In protest, the black community launched a one-day local boycott of Montgomery’s public bus system. As support for Parks began, the NAACP and other leaders took advantage of the opportunity to draw attention to their cause. They enlisted the help of a relatively unknown preacher, Martin Luther King Jr., to organize and lead a massive resistance movement that would challenge Montgomery’s racist laws (Kohl, 2005). Four days after Parks’ arrest, the citywide Montgomery bus boycott began (Kohl, 2005). It lasted for more than a year. Despite taunting and other forms of harassment from the white community, the boycotters persevered until the federal courts intervened and desegregated the buses on December 21, 1956 (Kohl,…

    • 2510 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In 1954, the court in Brown v. Board of education case, ruled that segregation in education facilities to be unconstitutional and this measure strike down segregation in education facilities (Feagin, 2014). In 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. Her defiance offered the start of a momentum to the civil rights movement that spread across the United States. She was not the first black person to refuse to wake up for a white person, but by the time of her action, there was growing resentment and anger in the African American society for being treated as second-class citizens. Word went around about Montgomery mistreatment and arrest (Feagin, 2014). The Women 's Political Council resolved to protest Rosa Park’s ill-treatment by arranging a bus boycott to start on the day of Parks’ trial, December 5th. Martin Luther King Jr. and the African American community established an association, the MIA (Montgomery Improvement Association) to carry on boycotting until the Jim Crow segregation laws were altered (Feagin, 2014). The key objective was to stop segregation in the public transport system and other sections of the society, and also to employ African-American drivers in Montgomery. The public unrest ensured for 382 days, costing the Montgomery bus company he sums of money, however the city declined to give in (Feagin, 2014). The Montgomery protest leaders filed a national lawsuit in opposition to the city’s segregation rules, claiming that Montgomery desecrated the 14th Amendment. In 1956, a national court stated that the Montgomery segregation rules were unlawful, but lawyers for Montgomery County appealed. On November 3rd, 1956 the Supreme Court ruled that the segregation laws in Montgomery were illegal. During the protest, the Montgomery authorities made many arrests (Feagin, 2014). At one time, the police detained a group of…

    • 2293 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Research Paper: Rosa Parks

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement Rosa Parks is one of the most famous people in the history of the American Civil Rights movement, for her refusal to “move to the back of the bus” on December 1, 1955. Although her moment of protest was not a planned event , it certainly proved to be a momentous one. The nature of Rosa Park’s protest, the response of the authorities of Montgomery, the tactics adopted by the civil rights leaders in Montgomery, and the role eventually played by Federal authority, were all aspects of this particular situation that were to be repeated again and again in the struggle for equality of race. Rosa Parks’ action, and the complex combination of events that followed, in some measure, foreshadowed a great deal of the history of the civil rights movement over the next decade. Obeying the law can change history in an instance, even if you’re actions don’t express it, it will later on affect society. After the arrest of Rosa Parks, black people of Montgomery and sympathizers of other races organized and promoted a boycott of the city bus line that lasted 381 days. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was appointed the spokesperson for the Bus Boycott and taught nonviolence to all participants. Contingent with the protest in Montgomery, others took shape throughout the south and the country. They took form as sit-ins, eat-ins, swim-ins, and similar causes. Thousands of courageous people joined the "protest" to demand equal rights for all people. As of my opinion, we should all be questioning the fact on how brave someone can be…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays