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Rosa Parks

Civil rights activist · United States · Activists · Lived 1913 to 2005 · aged 92

Rosa Parks is read about 5,025 times a day, in 116 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 390 days, one point a day.

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She stayed seated on a Montgomery bus in 1955 and set off a 381-day boycott that helped dismantle Jim Crow transit law. The refusal wasn't spontaneous - she'd spent years as NAACP secretary investigating racial violence and watching for the right test case.

ActivistsComedianStand UpActivismUnited StatesAmericas20th Century

A life in dates

2008Alabama Women's Hall of FameAward2005Died24 October 2005“We didn't have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next.”In their words31 October 2005Quoted in "Standing Up for Freedom," Academy of Achievement.org (2005-10-31)

“I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day, but I don't think there is anything such as complete happiness.”In their words31 October 2005Quoted in "Standing Up for Freedom," Academy of Achievement.org (2005-10-31)

2000NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama SeriesAward1999“I did not get on the bus to get arrested. I got on the bus to go home.”In their words14 June 1999Quoted in Rita Dove, "Rosa Parks: Her simple act of protest galvanized America's civil rights revolution," Time (1999-06-14)

Congressional Gold MedalAward1996Presidential Medal of FreedomAward1995“Thank you very much. I honor my late husband Raymond Parks, other Freedom Fighters, men of goodwill who could not be here.”In their wordsRosa Park speech to social activists assembled in Washington, D.C. (1995))

Golden Plate AwardAward1993National Women's Hall of FameAward1992“People always said that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true.”In their wordsRosa Parks: My Story, p. 116, Rosa Parks and James Haskins (1992)

1990“I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.”In their words4 February 1990Quoted in "Women of the Hall: Rosa Parks," Women's National Hall of Fame (undated); said upon her 77th birthday (1990-02-04)

1984Candace AwardAward1983Michigan Women's Hall of FameAward1981Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement AwardAward1979Spingarn MedalAward1913Born4 February 1913

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Rosa Parks 1997Rosa Parks 1997Mural Feminista de FuenlabradaMural Feminista de FuenlabradaMural parcial feminista fachada 1 de FuenlabradaMural parcial feminista fachada 1 de FuenlabradaRosa Parks and Enolia McMillan 1986Rosa Parks and Enolia McMillan 1986Rosa Parks and Johnnie Carr in 1975 (cropped)Rosa Parks and Johnnie Carr in 1975 (cropped)Rosa Parks Flat DetroitRosa Parks Flat DetroitRosa Parks, Johnnie Carr and Walter Fauntroy in 1975Rosa Parks, Johnnie Carr and Walter Fauntroy in 1975Smithsonian - NMAAHC - Dress sewn by Rosa Parks - NMAAHC 2007.3.1abSmithsonian - NMAAHC - Dress sewn by Rosa Parks - NMAAHC 2007.3.1ab

In their own words 10

,
Rosa Parks
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. We didn't have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next.

    Oct 31, 2005, Quoted in "Standing Up for Freedom," Academy of Achievement.org (2005-10-31), Own words

  2. I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day, but I don't think there is anything such as complete happiness.

    Oct 31, 2005, Quoted in "Standing Up for Freedom," Academy of Achievement.org (2005-10-31), Own words

  3. I'd see the bus pass every day... But to me, that was a way of life; we had no choice but to accept what was the custom.

    2002, Quoted in (2002), Own words

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Awards

Alabama Women's Hall of Fame2008
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series2000
Congressional Gold Medal1999
Presidential Medal of Freedom, Bill Clinton1996
Golden Plate Award1995
National Women's Hall of Fame1993
Candace Award1984
Michigan Women's Hall of Fame1983
Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award1981
Spingarn Medal1979
International Freedom Conductor Award
Ellis Island Medal of Honor

In their orbit

Spouse: Raymond Parks

About this person

Born in Tuskegee in 1913, Rosa Louise McCauley Parks grew up under Jim Crow and moved to Montgomery, where she joined the NAACP in 1943 as secretary. She registered to vote after three attempts and quietly built the scaffolding for civil rights campaigns, investigating cases of racial and sexual violence. When she refused to give up her seat on December 1, 1955, local leaders saw the test case they needed; the Women's Political Council called a one-day boycott that stretched to 381 days, ending only after Browder v. Gayle struck down bus segregation. The victory cost her: harassment, job loss, health trouble. She moved to Detroit in 1957 and kept working - supporting Angela Davis, protesting apartheid, co-founding an institute for youth development. She died in 2005 and became the first Black American honored in the Capitol rotunda and later in National Statuary Hall.

Country
United States
Category
Activists
Type
Activist
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1913 to 2005 · aged 92

In common with Rosa

Fred ShuttlesworthBoth received International Freedom Conductor AwardCicely TysonBoth received NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Activists from the United States 4

Richard Stallman78.2Malcolm X74.9Charlie Kirk85.2Claire Wineland72.0

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