Timeline - Rosa Parks

Feb. 4, 1913 Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama to James and Leonac Cauley

1923 Married Raymond Parks, a barber and civil rights activist.

1930s - 1955 Seamstress at Montgomery Fair Department Store

1934 Graduated from high school at age 21 years old.

1943 Appointed secretary of the NAACP's Montgomery branch and later its youth leader.

1955 In Montgomery, Ala., she refuses to go to the back of the bus and is arrested, igniting bus boycottled by Martin Luther King Jr.

1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott begins and 26 year old Martin Luther King is elected president of the boycott committee of the Montgomery Improvement Association.

1956 MIA's federal court suit, Browder v. Gayle, begins in Montgomery. 1956 Boycott ends after U.S. Supreme Court rules bus segregation is unconstitutional and the first integrated Montgomery bus is boarded by Reverend King, Rev. Abernathy, Glenn Smiley, and E.D. Nixon.

1957 Moves to Detroit, Michigan to escape harassment.

1965 - 1988 Worked as a receptionist and office assistant for John Conyers, an African-American congressman. Part of her job involved helping homeless people get housing.

1977 Rosa's husband, Raymond Parks, died.

1987 Established the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development with a mission to motivate and direct youth to achieve their highest potential.

1988 Retired.

1994 Mugged in her home by Joseph Skipper and had $53 stolen from her.

1996 Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom presented by President Clinton

1999 Receives Congressional Gold Medal

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