Civil Rights
A legendary life
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks
1913 – 2005
Civil rights activist whose resistance helped launch the Montgomery bus boycott.
Her story
A life that changed history
Rosa Parks refused a bus driver's order to give up her seat to a white passenger in Montgomery in 1955. Her arrest helped mobilize a year-long bus boycott and made her an enduring international symbol of resistance to racial segregation.
“No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
Rosa Parks: My Story, with Jim Haskins, 1992, p. 116
“All of us should be free and equal and have equal opportunity and that is what I’m trying to instill and encourage and inspire young people to reach their highest potential.”
Academy of Achievement interview, 1995