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