Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913 in the city of Tuskegee, Alabama to her two parents James and Leona McCauley. Now as a child Rosa was raised to be a very strong willed and straightforward person and that really showed. Now Rosa unfortunately lived during the time of this country known as segregation, which separated blacks and whites. So with those laws, Rosa attended the all- black college of Alabama State, and then joined the NAACP (National Association of the Advancement of Colored People). After joining the NAACP, Rosa went on to marry Raymond Parks, a local barber and fellow member of the NAACP not long after. All the information that I have just given you brings me to Rosa’s biggest risk of her life. The day was December. 1, 1955, and Rosa was returning home from her job as a seamstress, when she was ordered to give up her seat in the front of the bus to a white man, but she refused. With that refusal, Rosa was arrested and was fined $14, but that was just the beginning. With Rosa being arrested, the African Americans of Alabama began a 381-day bus boycott of the Montgomery. Sometime during the boycott or sometime right after, a monumental ruling was made, the Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was deemed unconstitutional, which made Rosa and the African American preacher Martin Luther King Junior famous.
But that was not the end of this situation, before and after the ruling, Rosa was receiving harassment from people all around her. So she moved to Detroit, MI in 1957, and got a job with a congressman John Conyers. But even with moving, Rosa continued to take part in speeches, marches, and demonstrations. Then in 1977, Rosa’s husband Raymond died, 10 years later she opened the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute, for the self-development of people. Then Rosa faced more obstacles in 1994, when she was mugged in her house by Joseph Skipper and had $53 stolen from her. But not to have her obstacles overcome her achievements, Rosa received such awards as the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize in 1980, the Spingarn Medal in 1979, and the Eleanor Roosevelt Women of Courage Award in 1984.
So after finding this information, and sharing it with you, I believe that Rosa Parks was motivated to take this risk, because she wanted to be treated fairly. The obstacles that Rosa had to overcome were discrimination, harassment, and violence. Now, when you think about it, there was no failure to this risk taken by Rosa Parks, it only brought out the best things. An example of those things included the beginning of equality for the African Americans. So in conclusion, Rosa Parks is my role model, because she stood up for the equality of a group of people, and made a difference.
