By Susan Ariran
It’s 60 Years down the dark corridors of American history; but Rosa Parks remains etched on the heart world’s most blessed country’s citizens.
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African American human rights activist who fought actively against racial segregation in America during her time and her heroic activities are still being celebrated today.
Social Media and the world today, especially in black people circles, have been awash by heart-renting eulogies in honor of the one woman who stood up for justice even when her life clearly depended on it.
The 20th century in American history remains one to forget for the black populace still living in the country.
Here are 10 facts you probably didn’t know about her:
*Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was born February 4, 1913 at Tuskegee Alabama and died October 24, 2005 at Detroit Michigan.
*She was married to a barber from Montgomery, Raymond Parks.
*Rosa Parks was known by the United States Congress as ‘the first lady of civil rights’ and ‘the mother of freedom movement’.
*She became actively involved in civil rights issues by joining the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP in 1943, serving as the chapter’s youth leader as well as secretary to NAACP President E.D. Nixon—a post she held until 1957.
*Her birthday, February 4, and the day she was arrested, December 1, have both become Rosa Parks’ Day, commemorated in both California and Ohio.
*From 1965 to 1988 she served as secretary and receptionist to John Conyers, an African-American U.S. Representative. She was also active in the
Black Power movement and the support of political prisoners in the US.
*On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake’s order to give up her seat in the colored section to a white
passenger, after the white section was filled.
*Her arrest and trial on charges of violating segregation laws led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that segregation on the city’s buses was unconstitutional, the rise of the Martin Luther King Jr. as a civil rights leader, and the emergence of the civil rights movement as a national cause.
*She organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including Edgar Nixon, president of the local chapter of the NAACP; and Martin Luther King,
Jr., a new minister in town who gained national prominence in the civil rights movement.
*Today is the 60th anniversary of her refusal to give up her seat which sparked a year-long boycott of buses in Montgomery, Alabama, by the city’s black community in a bid to fight racial segregation in America.
Rosa Parks is a hero and a legend who will always be celebrated for her bravery and passion.
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