CHAPTER 1 - Chapter 1: The Beginning of Rosa Parks

CHAPTER 1 -Chapter 1:

The Beginning of Rosa Parks

On February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama, James and Leona Edwards McCauley had no idea that their new baby girl, Rosa Louise

McCauley would one day change the world.

Like most children Rosa grew up surrounded by education. She went to an elementary school, a private middle school and started at Alabama's Teachers College High School.Before she graduated from high school in 1934, Rosa decided to get married to a man

named Raymond Parks 1932.

Once they got married, Raymond made Rosa become interest in the civil rights moment. Together they became active in Montgomery's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

- CHAPTER 2 -Segregation In The South

SLife in the south was not fair for everyone. Whites

were treated much better than blacks.

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Lawmakers in the south put many restrictions on blacks limiting what they were able to do. Over time,

life was still not getting any better for blacks.

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Whites and blacks were completely segregated. There were separate:

schoolsrestaurants

hospitals

hotelswaiting rooms

drinking fountainsswimming pools

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Blacks were forced to sit in the back of the bus and always had to stand for whites if there were

no more open seats on the bus.

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To make matters worse, some whites were very violent to blacks living in the south. Many blacks’ houses, churches, or stores were lit on fire and

some blacks were even killed.

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Many blacks in the south were beginning to give up hope and some thought that things would

never get any better for them and their families.

- CHAPTER 3 -The Beginning of Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on the bus for a white

man.

Rosa Parks’ arrest started the Montgomery Bus Boycott. No blacks rode the busses because they did not think that it was fair that they had to sit in the back

of the bus. So during the boycott all the blacks in Montgomery, Alabama walked to wherever they had to

go.

For more than a year, whites tried to end the boycott in many different ways. But leaders like Rosa Parks

and Martin Luther King would not let it happen.

In November 1956 the U.S. Supreme Court decided that segregation on the busses was not fair.

Finally on December 21, 1956 the law was passed and blacks rode the busses again. The boycott was over!

The south was no longer segregated.

- CHAPTER 4 -Desegregation & Celebration

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Rosa Parks was honored for her bravery. In 1983, she was inducted into the Michigan’s Women Hall of Fame for her achievements

during the civil rights movement.

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She was also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999 and in 2001 The Rosa Parks Library and Museum, located in Montgomery, Alabama,

was dedicated to her.

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Rosa Parks did so much for blacks during the civil rights movement. Her actions did not go

unnoticed and she will be honored and remember forever.

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Timeline of Rosa Parks

1913: Rosa McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. 1932: Rosa married Raymond Parks.1942: Rosa Parks joined the civil rights movement.1943: Rosa tried to register to vote but got denied.

Rosa refused to give up her seat on a bus and gets kicked off.

Rosa becomes secretary of the Montgomery NAACP1945: Rosa Parks finally received her voting certificate after three tries.1955: On December 1st Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat on the bus and the Montgomery bus boycott began. This boycott lasted 381 days.

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Timeline continued…

1956: Segregation is ruled unconstitutional and the boycott ended. 1992: Rosa Parks published her first book, “Rosa Parks, My Story.”2005: On December 24th, Rosa Parks died in her home in Detroit.

CITIZENS TAKE ACTION

Wade Watts, was a well known African-American preacher who was also a civil rights activist in Oklahoma. During the Civil Rights movement, Watts worked with well know activists such as Thurgood Marshall and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Aside from being president of the Oklahoma chapter of the NAACP for sixteen years, Wade Watts is best recognized for his efforts in fighting against the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) and the segregation in schools.

Map of States involved in the Civil Rights Movement

Vocabulary

Segregation: the separation of people based on their race, class or ethnicity

Boycott: refusing to use something or go somewhere in order to make a point

U.S. Supreme Court: the highest judicial body in the United States

About the Authors

Kaitlyn Olshefski is a junior at Penn State University. She is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Becky Brown is a junior at Penn State University. She is from Bucks County, PA.

Lindsey Young is a junior at Penn State University and is from New Jersey.

All three are education majors and love visiting their first grade classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

References

- Creative Commons Images

- Map from nps.gov

- “Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Rosa Parks” by Loraine Stewart

- Rosa Parks Timeline: http://www.detnews.com/2005/specialreport/0510/25/Po4-360111.htm

- Lives Remembered: http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051025/NEWS0104/510250350