Rosa Parks

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (1913–2005) was an American activist whose refusal to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1, 1955, sparked the Montgomery bus boycott and became a catalyst of the modern civil rights movement. Often called the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” she remained active for decades and co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development. Her books Rosa Parks: My Story (1992) and Quiet Strength (1994) recount her life and faith.