Answer:
In December 1955, 42-year-old seamstress Rosa Parks joined the workers at the bus stop after a long,
hard day at the tailoring shop. It seemed to take the bus forever to get there, but it eventually it did come,
and that’s when some real trouble began.
When she boarded the bus the seats available were quickly taken. Parks decided to sit in the “white”
section of the bus. The bus driver told Rosa and several other African-Americans to give up their seats to
some lighter-skinned people who got on the bus. The other African-Americans moved, but Rosa refused to
move. The bus driver called the police. Rosa Parks was arrested right then and there. Later she and her
husband lost both of their jobs.
Her refusal to move on the bus sparked a movement against segregation in Montgomery Alabama which
started with the 381-day bus boycott by African-Americans.
Later she and her husband moved to Detroit Michigan where she died of natural causes at the age of
92 on October 24, 2005. For more than 23 years she was a staff assistant to representative John Conyers
of Michigan. In 1994 Rosa, then 81 years old was attacked by a burglar. With help from the community the
burglar was caught and convicted and he apologized.
Rosa Parks wrote her autobiography Rosa Parks: My Story, then authored Quiet Strength, an
autobiography with George Reed.
