Rosa Parks: the mother of Civil Rights Movement"

Civil Rights Leader
Rosa Parks

n  She was born 4^th February 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama.

n  She grew up on a farm with her brother, mother and grandparents.

n  She worked as a seamstress after she left school.

n  Black people (African- Americans) living in Alabama were not treated equally to white Americans.

n  They did not have equal rights. Example: Black people and white people had to sit in certain seats on the bus. If all the “white seats” were taken then a black person had to stand up to let the white person sit down!

n  This was the law in Alabama!

Segregation (separation)

On 1^st December 1955 after coming home from a hard days work, Rosa was sitting on the bus when the bus driver ordered her to give up her seat to a white man, who couldn’t find a seat in the “white section” of the bus. Found guilty of breaking the law which required black people to give up their bus seats to whites, Rosa Parks was arrested.

Boycott of the Bus System

Boycott means: to refuse to buy something or to take part in something as a way of protesting.

By boycotting the buses they hoped to change the laws of segregation. The buses depended on African-Americans to keep their business running.

Non-violent Protest

n  The boycott went on for 13 months.

n  Instead of riding the buses to work, many African-American people in Montgomery, Alabama, found other ways to get to work. (Walked,Cycle)

n  The boycott ended when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the segregation laws on Alabama’s buses were not legal. Rosa was given the nickname “The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement”.

n  She inspired Rev. Martin Luther King (picture) and others to protest for equal rights in America.