5th(13)
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was born February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. She spent her childhood in
Alabama. When she was 11, she enrolled in the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls. Later, she
worked as a seamstress in Montgomery.
Rosa Parks has been called the "mother of the civil rights movement" and one of the most
important citizens of the 20th century. In the early 1950s, the bus system in Montgomery, as in many
parts of the United States, was segregated. Blacks were required to board the bus at the front, buy their
tickets, and then re-board the bus in the back. Sometimes, they weren’t able to get on the bus again
before it drove away. They were not allowed to sit in the front of the bus, which sometimes made it
difficult to get off at the right stop. Even if they were sitting in the “black section”, they were still
required to give their seats up to white passengers if the “white section” was full. In December of
1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger. The bus driver had her
arrested. She was tried and convicted of violating a local ordinance.
Her act sparked a citywide boycott of the bus system. This refusal to ride the bus introduced the
country to a clergyman named Martin Luther King, Jr. who gained national prominence, leading the
protest with the words: “There comes a time that people get tired”. Eventually, the U.S. Supreme Court
made a decision outlawing segregation on city buses. In December 1956, Montgomery’s public
transportation system was legally integrated.
Over the next four decades, Rosa Parks helped make her fellow Americans aware of the history
of the civil rights struggle. This pioneer in the struggle for racial equality earned many honors,
including the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and
the Congressional Gold Medal. She is an example of courage and determination and an inspirational
symbol to all Americans. She recently died in Detroit, Michigan on October 24, 2005 at age 92.
1. What did Rosa Parks refuse to do?
A. Go to jail
B. Ride a bus
C. Give up her seat
D. Pay for her ticket
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