Life - Rosa Parks was born only a month before world war one started in Europe on February 4, 1913. Parks mother worked as a school teacher in Tuskegee, Alabama. James McCauley, Rosa's dad was a carpenter. They lived in Tuskegee and owned farmland of their own. After Sylvester was born, Rosa's little brother, her father left them and went off to live in another town. He had been cheated out of his farmland by a white man and couldn't support the family any longer. Rosa her mother and her brother then moved to live with her grandparents on a farm in Pinelevel, which lay between Tuskegee and Montgomery, Alabama. It was a small plot of land, but it kept them all fed. From this point on Rosa was mainly brought up by her Grandparents with the assistance of her mother. Rosa gave up school when she came close to graduating, around the same time Rosa got married. Raymond Parks married Rosa McCauley December 18, 1932. He was a barber from Wedowee County, Alabama. He had little formal education but a thirst for knowledge. Her husband, Raymond Parks, encouraged her to fin

Parks has met many renowned leaders and has traveled throughout the world receiving honors and awards for her efforts toward racial harmony. She is appreciative and honored by them but exhibits little emotion over whom she has met or what she has done. Her response to being called “the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement” is modest. “If people think of me in that way, I just accept the honor and appreciate it”, she says. In Quiet Strength, however, Parks is careful to explain that she did not change things alone. “Four decades later I am still uncomfortable with the credit given to me for starting the bus boycott. I would like (people) to know I was not the only person involved. I was just one of many who fought for freedom.”. Finally, most recently in August 1994, Parks was attacked in her home by a young man who wanted money from her. Of the event, she writes, “I pray for this young man and the conditions in our country that have made him this way. Despite the violence and crime in our society, we should not let fear overwhelm us. We must remain strong”. Forty years later, despite some tremendous gains, Parks feels, “we still have a long way to go in improving the race relations in this country”. Today, Parks continues the work she and her husband, Raymond undertook throughout their lives with youth in the community and throughout the world. In closing Rosa says that February, Black History Month, seemed a relevant time to evaluate youth and their sense of history. But Parks thinks bigger and broader. “We don't have enough young people who are concerned and who are exposed to the civil rights movement, and I would like to see more exposure and get their interest”, she says, pausing to reflect, “but I think it should just be history, period, and not thinking in terms of only Black History Month”. In todays news Parks has lost a recent lawsuit againt rap group OutKast, suing because the group used her name in a popular song which involved “profanity and vulgarity”. The group said that “they only wanted to hounor the civil-rights pioneer with the grammy nominated song”. Parks lost the 25,000 dollar claim. Parks who celebrates her 87th birthday this February spends most of her year in Detroit but winters in Los Angeles. Her day is filled with reading mail, “from students, politicians, and just regular people”, preparing meals, going to church, and visiting people in hospitals. She is still active in fighting racial injustices, now standing up for what she believes in and sharing her message with others. She and other members of the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development have a special program called Pathways to Freedom, for young people age 11-18. Children in the program travel across the country tracing the Underground Railroad, visiting the scenes of critical events in the civil rights movement and learning aspects of America's history.

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Some topics in this essay:
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