The Life of Rosa Parks

the life of Rosa Parks she sat down to stand up for civil rights 90 years ago when Rosa Parks was growing up in Alabama life was very unfair in the world she lived in black and white people were not treated equally even though under the 14th Amendment of the U.S Constitution the law said they must be instead the government came up with a trick called separate but equal which meant that people could still be segregated by race and skin color in bathrooms in shops in restaurants and at drinking fountains not very equal right Rosa Parks

was born on February 4th 1913. her mother was a teacher and her father was a carpenter when her parents separated she moved to Montgomery in Alabama to live on her grandparents form from there she had to walk to school only white kids could use the bus when her grandmother became sick and needed care she was forced to quit school and look after her at 19 Rosa met Raymond Parks a barber and political activist in the fight for equal rights they fell in love and soon they got married now with his encouragement she went back to

studying and finished high school at that time less than seven percent of the black community graduated high school so rose already stood out for the rest after graduating she settled into married life and took on a bunch of jobs like doing laundry mopping Hospital floors [Music] working in domestic service and sewing and repairing clothes through her husband Raymond Rosa got involved in the important work at the NAACP the National Association for the advancement of colored people soon after she started working as a secretary at the office in Montgomery Alabama she was busy investigating cases of

racial Injustice what makes Rosa Parks so famous is what she did on December 1st 1955. first you got to know that at the time the buses in Montgomery were divided a seating area for white people and a seating area in the back for black people if more white passengers needed seats then black passengers had to move further back and stand if there was no standing room they had to get off the bus that's how unequally people were treated after a long day at work Rosa caught the bus home she was worn out physically tired and

tired of all the unfairness he saw around her she took her seat but as the bus filled up two or three white passengers were left standing the bus driver asked Rosa to give up her seat and move to the back she politely refused and stayed put think what guts that takes I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt On a Winter's Night she later said the driver called the police and she was arrested and put in jail on Monday December 5th 1955 the day of rose's trial for disorderly conduct where she was found

guilty the black community of Montgomery were organized determined and ready to act with a peaceful protest they handed out leaflets that said we are asking every negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial you can afford to stay out of school for one day if you work take a cab or walk but please children and grown-ups do not write the bus at all on Monday that Monday no one used the buses everyone stuck to the boycott people organize car sharing caps charge only 10 cents for a ride and a

lot of the 40 000 people just walked do you have any idea how long they kept up the protest 381 days that's more than a year imagine how tough that must have been their Victory came a year later when the Supreme Court said the segregation on public transport was against the law Rosa Parks devoted the rest of her life to the fight for equal rights Rosa wasn't the first to refuse to give up her bus seat to a white passenger don't forget Brave women like Lily Mae Bradford Irene Morgan thank you and Claudette Colvin and

other activists before her who did the same Rosa Parks died in Detroit Michigan in 2005 at the age of 92. today Rose's Defiance remains a symbol for rusts of everything we admire courage Integrity dignity and true determination no wonder she lives on forever as the mother of the Freedom Movement [Music]