When you hear the name Rosa Parks the first thing that most likely pops into a person’s head is something along the lines of sitting on a bus and not giving up her seat. Rosa Parks dedicated her life to the Civil Rights Movement. She was an important lady in American history. Listed below are the many way she contributed to our nation’s history.
Parks and the NAACP got the Civil Rights Movement organized and because of that, she earned the title of “Mother Of The Civil Rights Movement.” She earned this name by all of her brave actions and risks she took by sitting down to stand up for her people. Parks’ actions lead to the Supreme court decision outlawing segregation on city buses. When she got taken away to jail, 500 people came to support her in court and that was the start of the Civil Rights Movement. She was found guilty and fined $10 with a $4 court fee.
Parks was the biggest cause of the bus boycott because she sat down and stayed down. Parks and three others were asked to move so one white man could sit down. She refused and that is why the bus boycott started. The bus boycott meant that all the black people did not ride the bus until they got what they got to sit where they wanted. The boycott lasted 381 days in Montgomery, Alabama. The bus boycott costed the bus lines more than $750,000 because 70% or more of the riders were black people. Richard Nixon wanted equality for African americans but was afraid that African Americans were gonna get sick of walking. People walked, rode bikes, got cabs, and even were assisted by the church services that bought cars and drove them from place to place. As a result of what people did to find transportation, the African Americans all stayed off the buses.
As a result of Parks’ bravery, she was awarded with many awards and honors such as the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999 and in 1993 she was introduced into the National Women's Hall Of Fame. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the most prestigious award a president can give to a citizen. In 1980 she was awarded with the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize and in 1984 she was awarded with the Eleanor Roosevelt Women of Courage.
Parks was arrested on Dec. 1 1955 when she was 42 years old. On the bus she was sitting in the designated zone for black people only. The bus driver was the same driver from 12 years before who had kicked her off for not reboarding in the back of the bus where black people boarded the bus. She was arrested for not getting up so a white man could sit down. She simply said that “I didn’t get on the bus to get arrested. I got on the bus to go home.” That was the beginning of the big bus boycott.
On October 24, 2005 Parks passed away in Detroit, Michigan. Parks was the first woman, second black person and the 31st person to have her body honored in the U.S Capitol Rotunda. On February 27, 2013 Parks’ statue was unveiled to the public. This bronze statue stands nine feet tall and weighs about 600 pounds. The Raven Black granite pedestal that the statue is sitting on weighs 2,100 and has “Rosa Parks/1913-2005” inscribed on its pedestal. Her statue is dedicated in the US capitol rotunda.
Parks died on October 24, 2005. She died in Detroit, Michigan in her apartment. She lived to be 92 years old and the year before she had been diagnosed with progressive dementia. An estimated 50,000 people viewed her casket. Time magazine ranked her in the 20 most influential people in the 20th century. Parks was an amazing women that impacted so many people’s lives, and she will always be remembered as part of The Civil Rights Movement.