7 Interesting Facts About Rosa Parks to Share with Your Daughter
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7 Interesting Facts About Rosa Parks to Share with Your Daughter
Meet the mother of the Modern Civil Rights Movement who would change everything by sitting down to stand up for equality.
Throughout past and present history, many incredible women have contributed to the Civil Rights movement. But one of the most famous female Civil Rights icons your Rebel might recognize is Rosa Parks, who is known as the mother of the Modern Civil Rights Movement.
Rosa Parks took a stand for equality and sparked a major movement that created lasting change forever. She is one of the most recognized female Civil Rights activists, along with others like Corretta King Scott, Ruby Bridges, and many more. In addition to refusing to give up her seat and move to the back of a bus in segregated Alabama, there are many more interesting facts about Rosa Parks.
Get ready to teach your Rebel all about Rosa’s incredible accomplishments and the differences she made. Enjoy learning about Rosa Parks with these seven facts about her life to share with your kids.
Rosa and her family valued education
Rosa Parks was born in 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama, and later moved to Montgomery for school. Her mom was a teacher and taught Rosa to value education from an early age.
Even though school was important, Rosa delayed her education to care for her grandma and mom. At 20 years old, she finally graduated high school. While this is later than what we’re used to currently, back in the 1930s and 1940s, only a little over 6% of black students graduated, so it was a significant accomplishment.
Civil Rights contributions before the bus
Even before Rosa Parks took a stand by refusing to move on the bus, she had roots in the Civil Rights movement. In 1943, she joined the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP as their secretary.
She also worked with her husband and contributed to the “Scottsboro Boys” defense. This case involved false accusations of assault against nine Black men who were eventually freed in 1950.
She had to move out of Montgomery after the boycott
The bus boycott lasted a little over a year, exactly 381 days, but life after didn’t go back to normal. Soon after the boycott ended, both she and her husband became unemployed. Even after everything had ended, Rosa was threatened and decided it was safest to leave Montgomery and relocate to Detroit.
Rosa wrote four books in her life
Rosa wrote four books throughout her life, including Rosa Parks: My Story, Quiet Strength, Dear Mrs. Parks: A Dialogue With Today’s Youth, and I Am Rosa Parks, two of which were geared toward kids.
In Dear Mrs. Parks, there are letters from kids to Rosa, and her responses to those letters encourage them to keep working toward a brighter future. The second, I Am Rosa Parks, follows her life from the beginning through the moment she ignited a movement by refusing to move to the back of the bus.
She co-founded a center
The Rosa and Raymond Parks Center for Self Development was co-founded by Rosa Parks in honor of her late husband, Raymond. Not only did Rosa value education, but her husband did too. He was the person who encouraged her to finish her high school education after they got married. The center’s mission is to motivate and inspire the next generation to reach their highest potential.
Rosa received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Medal of Freedom
In 1996, 41 years after the historical day that inspired the bus boycott, Rosa was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton. This award is given by a president to someone who has made a significant contribution to the United States. Three years later, in 1999, she would also receive the Congressional Medal of Freedom, the highest honor for a civilian change-maker, the honor is awarded by Congress.
The first woman to “lie in state”
After Rosa Parks died in 2005, she was honored by lying in state in the Rotunda of the Capitol. She was the second Black person to be honored this way and was the first woman ever. Later, congress also unveiled a statue of her in the Capitol as well.
Rosa Parks is a woman your Rebel learns about in school, but there are many other unsung details about her story that aren’t usually covered. There is more to this incredible activist than the single bus ride that changed her life and history forever.
How many of these Rosa Park facts did your Rebel already know? What would she do if she found herself in this situation or saw someone else in a similar predicament? Use this information to start a conversation with your daughter about how she wants to positively impact the world and her community.