The Civil Rights Movement
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley, the “mother of the modern-day Civil Rights movement,” was born on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. She had a younger brother, Sylvester, who was born in 1915. Her parents separated when she was young, but because her mother was a teacher, Rosa grew up knowing that education was very important.
Rosa went to school in Montgomery, Alabama when she was 11 and then continued on to high school. She had to take a break from her studies when her grandmother, and later her mother, became ill, and she had to take care of them.
In 1932, Rosa married Raymond Parks, a very smart, well-dressed, self-educated barber who encouraged her to finish high school – which she did shortly after.
While in Montgomery, Rosa worked as a seamstress and became an active organizer and leader in the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa and Raymond joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and she was elected as secretary and later served as the youth leader of the local branch.
