Rosa Parks : The Mother of the Civil Rights
Early Life
Rosa Parks was born on February 4th 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. ( "Rosa Parks." Newsmakers. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Biography in Context. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.)
Her parents were James and Leona Mcauley. She moved schools a lot after her parents separated. After her parents were separated Rosa , her mother and her younger brother moved to Pine Level Alabama to live with her mother's parents. Rosa's grandparents, Rose and Sylvester Edwards were former slaves and strong advocates for racial equality. On her grandfather's farm was Rosa's first experience with racism. She saw her grandfather stand in front of the house with a shot gun while the Ku Klux Klan marched down the street. Rosa was taught to read by her mother and attended a one room segregated school in Pine Level, Alabama. The school was inadequate compared to the schools where white children attended and lacked school supplies such as desk. The black children were forced to walk to school while the white children were able to ride the bus to school. Rosa left school in 11th grade and started to work in a shirt factory in Montgomery Alabama. Rosa parks married Raymond Parks at age 19. Raymond parks was a barber and a active member of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). Rosa Parks did finish high school in 1933 and in 1943 became an active member of the NAACP Montgomery, Alabama chapter. She was the youth leader and held the post until 1957. (http://www.biography.com/people/rosa-parks-9433715).