Civil rights leader Rosa Parks is best known for her courageous act of refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama on December 1, 1955. Although she was not the first African American to do this, she is credited for kickstarting a very important movement in history for the civil rights of Black people. But there is so much more to her story!
Here are 10 things that most people don’t know about Rosa Parks:
#1 - Her heritage was a mixture of African, Cherokee-Creek Indian, and Scots Irish.
#2 - Rosa’s stand led not only to her arrest, but also a boycott of Montgomery buses in a protest against discrimination that lasted 381 days.
#3 - Rosa and her husband both lost their jobs because of their political stand against discrimination.
#4 - Rosa and her husband moved to Hampton, Virginia because of the death threats they were receiving.
#5 - Rosa never had children.
#6 - In 1999, she received the Congressional Medal of Honor for national influence to bring about positive change.
#7 - Time Magazine named her one of the 20 most powerful and influential figures of the century.
#8 - In 2013, Rosa Parks became the first African American woman to have a statue made of her and displayed in National Statuary Hall, United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.
#9 - Rosa lived to be 92 years old.
#10 - On the day of Rosa’s funeral, President George W. Bush issued a proclamation ordering all flags on U.S. public areas to be flown at half-staff to honor her.
