Rosa Parks' Biography
Rosa Louise McCauley was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee Alabama. As a small child growing up, she had suffered from chronic tonsillitis and other health problems too. Shortly after her parents (James and Leona McCauley) had separated, she had moved to live with her mother, brother, and grandparents. At age eleven, Rosa attended the Industrial School for Girls in Montgomery. As Rosa began to attend other schools in order to finish her education, she had to drop out in order to help out her mother and grandmother, who were at the time ill. As her life progressed, new laws known as the Jim Crow Laws had been passed down. These laws separated and disfranchised the African Americans and whites to live amongst each other. The Jim Crow Laws also restricted the African Americans from voting in many of the states. The laws had affected many of the African Americans that have lived in Alabama, especially Rosa and her family. Rosa thought the laws were unfair, and treated different races unequally. After much years of overseeing the laws and regulations in Alabama, the people there were differently treating the African Americans. Shortly then in 1932, she got married to Raymond Parks, a barber from Montgomery. At the time Rosa took numerous jobs working days and nights, while finishing her high school studies in 1933. For only about 7% of the African Americans had a diploma in high school education, which made it difficult for many African Americans to get the proper education they needed. In December 1943, Rosa Parks became an civil rights activist. She became involved in the laws and regulations of the country, and soon became secretary of the Montgomery chapter known as the NAACP. After a long and tiring day, Rosa Parks had sat in the middle of the bus which was reserved for "colored" folks. As the bus driver demanded Rosa to stand up and give up her seat for a white passenger, she refused. The bus driver then called the police, and informed them the information that took place. After they're arrival, they immediately arrested Rosa. She was charged with a chapter 6, section 11 violation of the Montgomery city code. After she was bailed out of jail, she decided to spread the news to all the people in Montgomery. She was determined to show the world that the Jim Crow laws were unfair, and treated the people in Alabama unequally. The bus boycott that Rosa Parks lead was served for the purpose of changing the thoughts of the people in Alabama. She was determined to get the point across, and make a turning point or change in history. When she began leading the civil rights movement, she was honoring the people that needed to be free and have their own rights. With more family problems to come and more financial and economic losses that occurred in Rosa's life, she still believed that one day all people could be equal and provide one another with fair treatment. In 1992, Rosa Parks had published her autobiography on the situations and tragedies that happened in her life. After a long life, Rosa Parks had died of natural causes at the age of 92, on October 24, 2005 in Detroit. She will forever be remembered for all the rights and freedom she gave many African American people. She was a wise and smart women, awarded as the first African American women to stand up for the rights of many African American people. She had influenced the people in all parts of the world, changed American history in an unforgettable way, and encouraged her dream of leading the Civil Rights Movement.