Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks (1913–2005) was an American civil rights activist whose quiet defiance helped ignite the modern Civil Rights Movement. Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, and raised in Pine Level, she became involved with the NAACP in Montgomery, serving as secretary. On December 1, 1955, Parks was arrested after refusing to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a segregated city bus. Her arrest prompted the Montgomery Bus Boycott, led by local Black leaders including Martin Luther King Jr., and helped bring national attention to racial injustice. Parks later worked for U.S. Representative John Conyers and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.