Rosa Parksby Sydney Toschlog,Allison Osborne, Ashley Lynch, &Kaley Burch

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Table of ContentsForeword 3

Introduction 4Timeline 5Chapter 1: Early Life 6Chapter 2: Beginning of Activism

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Chapter 3: The Movement 32Chapter 4: Awards 38Glossary 48-50Bibliography 51-53About the Authors 54-57

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Foreword This biography is a powerful story about a woman who stands up for what she believes in. As a librarian, I have read several

books about the Civil Rights Movement and human beings standing up for their beliefs in general. The story of Rosa Parks,

in particular, is one of the most compelling and inspirational among these accounts from history.

“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired,” wrote Parks in her autobiography, “but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically… No, the only tired I was, was tired of

giving in.”This quote represents the strength and determination that Rosa Parks exhibited. This biography shows the reader that Rosa Parks was much more than a tired seamstress, but an

influential woman who began a movement.

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IntroductionRosa Parks is known as the “Mother of the Civil Rights

Movement.” Her legacy began far before the December day on the bus however, her name has resonated through our

country every day since. Rosa Parks’ childhood and education shaped her into the inspiration that she would

soon become. Her devotion and action for the fight against racism and discrimination is a reminder that she could stand

up even by sitting down. She began the movement that inspired the eventual end to all discrimination in America.

To Rosa Parks

Whose creative witness was the great force that led to the modern stride toward freedom.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Born in Tuskegee Alabama

Feb. 4, 1913

1924

Attended Montgomery Industrial School for Girls

1929

Left school to support her grandmother and mother

1932

Rosa married Raymond Parks

1933

Earned her high school degree

1943

Joined the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP

1943

First bus incident

Dec. 1, 1955

Rosa refuses to move seats on the bus and is arrested

Dec. 5, 1955

Rosa found guilty of violating segregation laws

Nov. 13, 1956

Supreme Court ruled bus segregation unconstitutional

Dec. 20, 1956

Bus Boycott ended

1957

Moved to Detroit

1965

Became administrative aide in Detroit office of congressman John Conyers Jr.

1979

Awarded the Springarn medal

1980

Received MLK award

Sept. 9, 1996

Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom

May 4, 1999

Awarded Congressional Gold Medal

1990

Rosa met Nelson Mandela

1992

Published Autobiogr-aphy

2005

Death

Timeline of the Life of Rosa Parks

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Chapter 1: Early Life

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Rosa Louise Parks, named after her grandmother Rose, was the first child of Leona and James McCauley. She was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4, 1913. At the age of 25, Rosa’s mom claimed that she was not ready to be a mother. James was always working, and she was stuck at home alone with a sickly Rosa.

Hello, I’m Rosa! This page tells you that I was sickly

during my childhood. This is because I had chronic

Tonsillitis. To the upper right is a picture of the home I lived in with my father’s

family in Abbeville. To the lower right is a picture of the Tuskegee Institute.

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James and his brother built houses and attended the Tuskegee Institute together. Leona wanted James to become a teacher at the institute because teachers were provided with houses. James disagreed and the family left Tuskegee to live with James’s family in Abbeville. Leona was very unhappy here. James decided to go north, and Leona did not want to stay with James’s family while he was gone. So, a pregnant Leona and Rosa left to live with Leona’s parents on a small farm in Pine Level, Alabama.

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After Sylvester, Rosa’s brother, was born, Leona began teaching again. She stayed with a family in town because the school was too far from her home to walk back and forth everyday. Rosa and her brother spent much time with their grandparents while their mother was away. Her father joined them later and lived with them until Rosa was two and a half. He left again to find work and did not return until Rosa was five, only to leave once again. Rosa did not see him again until after she was married.

This is a photo of my father, James

McCauley.

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Both of Rosa’s grandparents were former slaves. Her grandfather had been beaten and starved by his white owners and grew to hate white people. He didn’t want his grandchildren to play with white children. He instilled in his children and grandchildren that you must not allow yourself to be treated badly by anyone. Rosa said it was almost in her genes. Her grandmother, however, was not bitter and angry towards all whites like her husband. Rosa learned from both of them, and they influenced how she behaved as an activist.

My grandparents had a huge impact

on my life. They influenced how I behaved as an

activist.

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Rosa’s grandfather did not want anyone in his family to cook or clean for whites, he wanted them to be educated. Rosa started school when she was about six years old. She started a year later than most children because she was small and frail due to chronic tonsillitis. Rosa liked her first two teachers and loved school.

This is a photo of a school for

black children. I attended

schools similar to this school.

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Rosa and Leona moved to Montgomery when Rosa was eight. They lived with her grandmother’s cousin, Ida Nobles. Sylvester stayed with his grandparents in Pine Village. Ida wanted to adopt Rosa, but Leona wouldn’t allow it. Ida was upset, so the two moved again to live with her mother’s cousin Lelar and his wife. Rosa attended summer school here. Then, they moved back to Pine Level and she attended Alabama State Normal School for the rest of the summer. Her old school had closed down, so Sylvester and Rosa attended Spring Hill, where her mother taught, during the school year. During this time, her tonsils were removed, and she began growing much more quickly.I moved a lot as a child! At this time, it was

not proper for a woman and her child to live alone, so my mother and I lived with

many different family members. My brother stayed with my grandparents when my

mother and I were away.

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Tuskegee

MontgomeryPine Level

Abbeville

Detroit

Alabama

MichiganThese are all

of the places I lived

throughout my life.

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When she was eleven, her mother sent her to Montgomery Industrial School for Girls, which was more commonly known as Miss White’s School for Girls. The school had a great reputation. During this time, she lived with her Aunt Fannie and then moved back in with Cousin Lelar. During tenth and eleventh grade, she began school at the Alabama State Teachers College, but had to leave at the age of 16 to take care of her grandmother, and later her mother. She learned to type and sew in order to support her family. She did not finish school until many years later.

Miss White’s School for Girls

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During her childhood, The Ku Klux Klan was active Pine Level, so Rosa witnessed violence in the form of lynching and burnings. They rode through the black communities and burned churches, beat up, and even killed people. Rosa lived on a highway and the Klan rode up and down the highway. Rosa’s grandfather kept a gun close in case the family was attacked.

The Klan was very active during this time because black soldiers were coming home from World War 1

and wanted to be respected for fighting, and whites did not want to give them this respect.

To the left is a picture of a Klan member.

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Jim Crow laws were also active. This meant that blacks could attend only certain schools, only drink from certain water fountains, and only us the “black” library. Rosa was especially upset about her schooling. Blacks had to build their own schools and heat them. They also had wooden shudders rather than glass windowpanes like in white schools. She was especially upset that blacks were only allowed to attend school five months out of the year, but whites attended school for nine months out of the year. Rosa decided that she wanted change.

Jim Crow laws

meant “separate

but equal.” You can tell from this

photo that the two water

fountains were not

equal, and neither

were the laws.

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This is a map of the United States that shows the

segregations laws of 1954. As you can see, segregation was required in Alabama during

this time.

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Chapter 2: Beginning of Activism

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When Rosa meet Raymond Parks, it was not love at first sight. However, he never stopped calling on her until she said yes. He came into her life when she was not really thinking about marriage. She had recently dropped out of high school and though she wished to go back to school, was needed to be home to take care of her mother and her home. When she first met Raymond, she thought of him as being too white. He was light skinned and owned his own car, which was rare for blacks to have at the time. But Raymond was intrigued by Rosa and finally she said yes to a car ride with him.

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He could talk and talk while she just listened to him. The two of them grew up in different worlds despite both being born in Alabama. Raymond, or Parks as everyone called him including Rosa, lost both of his parents at a young age and he grew up in an all-white neighborhood. Even though he himself was light skinned, the whites in his neighborhood still gave him grief about being “black”. Parks had an honest soul and kind heart and he was the first real activist that Rosa had ever met. To my left is a

picture of Raymond.

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Raymond Parks was already a long-time member of the NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and it was because of this strong organization and its duties which brought Rosa and Raymond together. The summer of 1931 was filled with the case of the Scottsboro boys, who formed one of the largest cases for the NAACP.

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The nine boys in the Scottsboro case were wrongly accused of committing a crime against two white women. Raymond felt passionately about this case and it was this passion and courage that was the cause for Rosa’s admiration for Parks, and the next year the two were married.

The above picture is supporters of the

Scottsboro boys. The pictures to my left and right are of the

Scottsboro boys themselves.

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So, what is the NAACP? The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded on February 12, 1909. This is one of the oldest and most influential organizations that worked to end discrimination and created the movement that rid of the entire country of segregation between whites and African Americans. All over the country,

they called for laws against violence and wrongful indictments of African Americans. The NAACP was responsible for the Brown vs. Board of Education case which ended the “separate but equal” rulings in schools. In Montgomery, E.D. Nixon was the President. He would become a large part of Rosa’s life and the reason that she is considered the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement” today.

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Rosa was proud of everything her husband did and he in turn gave her his support, in finishing school, which she did, and eventually her desire to vote. Despite being one of the very few black Americans to obtain her high school diploma, her search for a proper job was limited. In 1941 she got a job at Maxwell Field, the local Army Air Force base. Rosa worked as a seamstress on the base. This was one of the only places in Alabama where Rosa found integration in the transportation services. Most people on the base were content with the black presence. It was still not total acceptance, of course. Raymond eventually started working at the barbershop on the base and had a run in with a white man after Raymond sat down at the same table as two white women

for lunch. For some people acceptance of the integration of whites and blacks was not an option. The picture here shows another

worker and I sitting on the bus to Maxwell Field. Most of the time, out of habit, we would still move

to the back for the white folks who came onto the bus.

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The day that Rosa had her first bus incident was a wintery one in 1943. The back of the bus was crowded all the way up to the back door, but the front of the bus was vacant. When Rosa got on the bus this day the back of the bus was so crowded she would not have been able to get on at the back due to the people blocking the door. But the driver was a mean one. Rosa would never forget his face – he was thick and rough looking with a mole above his mouth. Rosa tried to reason with him that she could not get on at the back and would just go to her section now that she was already on the bus and had paid.

It was a frequent practice of Montgomery bus drivers to make blacks pay at the front of the bus then get out and go around getting on at the back of

the bus, as not to walk through the white section of the bus. How do you

think you would feel if you had to follow these rules?

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The driver grabbed her sleeve and tugged her to the front of the bus and forced her off. She did not resist, because she knew the limits to this interaction. So she got off and as she did she could hear the black riders still on the bus questioning her motives and why she didn’t just obey. No one thought of this as an option to be taken.

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Though Raymond was supportive of his wife, he did not encourage her to join the NAACP as he had. Rosa knew it was dangerous, but felt this could not keep her from joining. There weren’t any female members of the Montgomery branch besides Johnnie Carr who was the secretary. So, on a December day in 1943, Rosa walked in to a meeting, which happened to be the annual election meeting and started her job as the secretary under the president, E.D. Nixon.

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There were few white people who were a part of the NAACP at the time. This was because white supporters of civil rights were treated almost as badly as blacks in Alabama and many other places in the South. Through Rosa’s time with the NAACP she saw many cases involving discrimination, unfair treatment, acts of violence, rape, wrongful accusation, and much more for both blacks and whites.

While I worked with the NAACP as E.D. Nixon’s (shown left) secretary, I realized it was going to take a lot of patience and faith. Some times

the NAACP would fight for years on one case. While many we were not

able to save, these cases were more about challenging power than changing it. While changing it was the goal, it was going to take small

battles to win the big war.

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The Brown vs. Board of Education case is actually the name given to five different cases that all complied to win the battle against segregation in schools across America. After the NAACP had been fighting, finally in 1954 the Supreme Court passed that segregated schools was unconstitutional and went against the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Brown Vs. Board of Education

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E.D. Nixon was the one to introduce Rosa to Virginia Durr. Mrs. Durr was a white woman and a civil rights activist, born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. Virginia Durr convinced Rosa to go to a workshop in Tennessee on “Racial De-Decision” at Highlander Folks School. The Highlander Center was the only place where people could come together safely and discuss how they could make a difference. Rosa, after spending three weeks there, said that her experience there became her reason for not moving to the back of the bus on that day that changed history. It was here at Highlander that she started to truly believe in the Civil Rights Movement.

In the above photo, I was

attending Highlander Folks School. As you can see, Martin Luther King Jr. was there as

well.

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During her time there she went to many workshops and classes, mostly on the desegregation of schools. The ending of the Brown vs. Board of Education trial was not too long before she went to Highlander. There is a picture shown of Rosa sitting next to Martin Luther King, Jr. at Highlander during this same workshop. This was a place where ideas were born and could be shared. After ten days of being in an unsegregated place, it was hard to return to Montgomery, Alabama where voices went mute and buses were split in two.

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Chapter 3: The Movement

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On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks was sitting in the eleventh row of the bus. This was the first row of the designated “colored” section of the public buses. The White section of the bus had filled up, and being in the front row of the black section, her seat was one of the next available.  The bus driver, James Blake, ordered Rosa to move back, along with a few others who were sitting in this row. Rosa Parks refused to move from her seat.

To the right, you will see my arrest records as well

of a mug shot of me.

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The bus driver, James Blake, proceeded to have Rosa arrested.  When asked by the bus officer why she didn’t stand up she responded, “I didn’t think I should have to.  Why do they push us around?”  The arresting officer hesitantly replied, “I don’t know, but the law is the law, and you are under arrest.” The bus driver proceeded to finish his normal route before traveling to City Hall to sign a warrant against Rosa Parks.

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Her arrest did not go unnoticed. The arrest was published in the newspaper and immediately led to a large boycott of all public busses.  The night of her arrest E.D. Nixon called several ministers and meetings were set up at local churches where the crowds of people that were involved with the boycott were able to meet.  The Southern Christian Leadership Council and the leaders of the boycott decided to file a lawsuit and everyone continued to walk to work in support of Rosa Parks.  The decision was made to continue to walk until the group saw that changes for the better were made for all people involved.

To my right is a photo of me having my finger

prints recorded.

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On December 5th, the Montgomery Improvement Association was formed and Dr. Martin Luther King became very prominent in the movement. He was chosen as a spokesman and the President of the Association.  Over a year later on December 20, 1956 the Supreme Court issued that the desegregation of the buses in Alabama were unconstitutional.  It took over a year of work to win this battle, but the Civil Rights Movement did not stop there. They recognized that this was a big win but knew that there was a lot more work to be done.    

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Rosa Parks did not stay in Alabama; she moved to Detroit in 1957 when the segregation problems did not stop.  She had to board up her house and death threats were common.  She felt guilty that she put her family in this kind of danger, which led to them moving to Detroit to escape these threats. She became the administrative aide in the Detroit Office of Congressman John Conyers Jr.

I was forced to leave my home because of my activism. Can you think of any present day situations in which people were punished for standing up

for what they believed in?

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Chapter 4: Awards

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Rosa Parks did a lot for the minority population in the 20th century and was accordingly awarded for her actions. She was awarded five different honors after she had helped with desegregation in the 1900s.

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This first award was from the NAACP called the Spingarn Medal which was awarded to her in 1979. The Spingarn Medal is awarded to an American Negro for the highest or noblest achievement in the prior year(s).

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Second, she was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Award in 1980. This award is given to a person or group that works in the United States in the belief of Martin Luther King Jr.

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The third award was a medal given to Rosa Parks by the president, Bill Clinton, on September 9, 1996. The award was the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest honor given by the United States executive branch given to a civilian in peacetime.

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Award number four was the Congressional Gold Medal which is the highest award that is given by the United States legislative branch in expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions. This award was given to Rosa Parks on May 4th of 1999.

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The final award was in 1999 when TIME magazine named Rosa Parks on the list of “The 20 most influential People of the 20th Century”.

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While Rosa Parks was living in Detroit, Nelson Mandela came to visit the city and insisted on meeting her while he was there. They met in 1990, and Mandela said that Parks was more interesting in person than in legend.

Mandela and Parks connected because of their passion for the movement of desegregation and equal rights.

Nelson Mandela was an activist in Africa around

the same time I was in the United

States.

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You can find information any many websites and in many books but in 1992 Rosa Park’s self-written autobiography was published. This book was titled My Story and gives her perspective of her life from her childhood living with her grandparents to becoming a recognizable person of honor. She also published a memoir titled Quiet Strength in 1995 which reveals her insights, dreams, and reflections on a variety of themes--her Christian faith, race relations, today's youth, her vision for the future, and much more.

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Rosa Parks died in 2005 and became the first official woman to lie in honor at the Capitol Rotunda which is the symbolic and physical heart of the Capitol.

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GlossaryMontgomery Industrial School for Girls

More commonly known as Miss White’s School for Girls, this was a private K-8 school for African American girls established in 1886 in Montgomery, Alabama. The goal of the school was to provide young African American girls a well-rounded education for a future of becoming teachers.

Alabama State Teacher’s CollegeThis college was established after the Alabama State Normal School, where Rosa went for some of her early education, and was the first state-supported educational institution for blacks.

KKKThe Ku Klux Klan became an organization after the Civil War and was active for several years mainly taking over the southern half of the country and aimed at suppressing the new freedom of African Americans. The KKK was responsible for most of the violence and deaths that happened during the time leading up to, during, and even after the Civil Rights Movement.

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Lynchinga method of punishment used, especially by hanging, without legal authority

Jim Crow LawsThe list of state laws made discriminating against the African American population. (“separate but equal; separate bathrooms, bus and restaurant seating, drinking fountains, schooling, etc.)

SegregationA separation of people or things from others or from the main body or group

DiscriminationMaking a distinction in favor of or against a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit

IndictmentA formal accusation initiating a criminal case, presented by a grand jury and usually required for felonies and other serious crimes; any charge, accusation, serious criticism, or cause for blame.

Seamstress A woman whose occupation is sewing

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Integration An act or instance of combining into a whole

Virginia Durr A white woman and a civil rights activist, born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. She and her husband, Clifford, were both activists. Rosa actually worked for Mrs. Durr as a seamstress in the beginning of their acquaintance. Virginia Durr was the one to convince Rosa to go Highlander Folks School.

Boycott To abstain, or refuse, buying or using as a means of intimidating or stopping

Montgomery Improvement Association The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was formed on December 5, 1955 by black ministers and community leaders in Montgomery, Alabama. It was led by Martin Luther King, Jr. with the focus on ending racial segregation and was the guide for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

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“Rosa Parks." Newsmakers. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Biography in Context.

History.com Staff. (2009, January 1). Rosa Parks.

Dreier, Peter. "Rosa Parks: Angry, Not Tired." Dissent. Winter 2006.

Johnson, B. (2012). Rosa Parks and the bus to freedom. West Berlin, N.J.: Townsend Press.

Parks, R., & Haskins, J. (1992). Rosa Parks: My story. New York: Dial Books.

Rosa Parks Interview (page: 3 / 3). (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0int-3

Remember Them. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.remember-them.org/parks.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_brown.html

Bibliography

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Bibliography ContinuedDictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com

Harmon, D. (2007). Montgomery Industrial School for Girls. In Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved from http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1162

Montgomery Improvement Association. (n.d.). In King Institute Home. Retrieved from http://mlkkpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_montgomery_improvement_association/

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Bibliography Continued (Pictures)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks

http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/shsur/obama_sitting_on_the_bus_where_rosa_parks/http://hellobeautiful.com/2014/09/02/warren-buffets-son-bought-rosa-parks-personal-belongings-for-4-5-million/https://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2013/02/http://www.laprogressive.com/rosa-parks-at-100/http://highlandercenter.org/archives/http://southernspaces.org/2011/rights-still-being-righted-scottsboro-eighty-years-laterhttp://www.scottsboro-boys.org/history.htmlhttps://twitter.com/naacphttps://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/trueblackness/conversations/topics/31985http://blog.cmoa.org/tag/rosa-parks/https://masscommons.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/rosa-parks-story-ours-part-10/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/weekinreview/10liptak.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0http://www.civilrightsteaching.org/Handouts/womenbios.htmhttp://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/archive/09/0903001r.jpghttp://www.archives.gov/global-pages/larger-image.html?i=/education/lessons/rosa-parks/images/police-report-l.jpg&c=/education/lessons/rosa-parks/images/police-report.caption.htmlhttp://wgbhnews.org/post/after-years-lockdown-rosa-parks-papers-head-library-congress

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Kaley Burch was born in Santa Claus, Indiana. She is now a sophomore at Purdue University majoring in Elementary and Special Education. Her favorite food is burritos and she loves the color blue. Her favorite things to do are reading, playing guitar, eating, and singing! Her dream is to take a trip to Italy and Greece, and to own two massive, but lovable dogs!

About the Authors

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Ashley Lynch grew up in Harmon, Oklahoma and in Lansing, IL. She is double majoring in Elementary Education and Special Education at Purdue University where she is a Junior. When she was young she enjoyed working with her grandfather on farm equipment and dressing up. She now enjoys to coach and visit her grandparents. Ashley looks forward to having her own classroom because she enjoys watching students grow over time in their knowledge and would like to make a difference in her student’s lives.

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Sydney Toschlog was born in West Lafayette, Indiana moved to Noblesville, Indiana at the age of two. She is now attending Purdue University and majoring in Elementary Education. She enjoys reading and looks forward to sharing her love of literature with her future students.

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Allison Osborne is a sophomore at Purdue University majoring in Elementary Education with a minor in Art & Design. She grew up in Westfield, IN where she raised pygmy goats and loved being with her family. In just a few short years, she will be teaching in her own classroom where she is looking forward to decorating and making amazing lesson plans for her students. One day she hopes to have her own art class, be married, and living wherever life takes her!