Rosa Parks (1913 - 2005), was an American civil rights activist whose refusal to relinquish her seat on a public bus precipitated the 1955â56 Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama, which became the spark that ignited the civil rights movement in the United States.
For her role in igniting the successful campaign, Parks became known as the âmother of the civil rights movement.â
Though achieving the desegregation of Montgomeryâs city buses was an incredible feat, Parks was not satisfied with that victory. She saw that the United States was still failing to respect and protect the lives of Black Americans. Martin Luther King, Jr., who had been brought to national attention by his organization of the Montgomery bus boycott, was assassinated less than a decade after Parksâs case was won. In one of her last interviews, she would not quite say that she was happy: âI do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day, but I donât think there is any such thing as complete happiness. It pains me that there is still a lot of Klan activity and racism. I think when you say youâre happy, you have everything that you need and everything that you want, and nothing more to wish for. I havenât reached that stage yet.â
After Parks died in 2005, her body lay in state in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, an honor reserved for private citizens who performed a great service for their country. For two days mourners visited her casket and gave thanks for her dedication to civil rights.
Parks was the first woman and only the second Black person to receive the distinction.
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