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Civil Rights activist, Rosa Parks was born on February 4th, 1913. She is most known refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus that led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

The success of this infamous boycott launched efforts nationwide to end segregation of public facilities. Rosa’s bravery led her to be honored with the Martin Luther King Jr. Award by the National Assocation for the Advancement of Colored People, the Presidental Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal.

Becoming a symbol of the Civil Rights Movement wasn’t easy. Parks lost her job as a seamstress after the boycott and her husband was later fired after his boss forbade him to talk about his wife or the legal case going on. The two eventually moved to Detroit wihere Parks worked as a receptionist in U.S. Representative John Conyer’s congressional office. She even served on the board of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

In 1987, Parks and Elaine Eason Steele founded the Parks and Raymond Parks Institue for Self-Development. This organization runs “Pathways to Freedom” bus tours that introduce people to important civil rights and Underground Railroad sites throughout our country.

Rosa Parks passed away on October 24th, 2005 at the age of 92. Today, she has many memorial services. Biography shared htat she lies in honor at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington D.C. She was interred between her husband and mother at Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery in the chapel’s mausoleum. The chapel has since been renamed the Rosa L. Parks Freedom Chapel.

 

All information obtained from Biography