1 00:00:02,740 --> 00:00:13,740 Born as Rosa Louise Parks in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 2, 1913, Rosa Parks is one of the most significant American civil rights activists. 2 00:00:13,740 --> 00:00:20,739 She was the daughter of James McCauley, who worked as a carpenter, and Leona Carley, who was a teacher. 3 00:00:20,739 --> 00:00:28,739 When she was only two, her parents got divorced and she started to live with her grandparents, her mother, and her brother in a farm in Pine Level, Alabama. 4 00:00:28,739 --> 00:00:35,740 In this place, Rosa would start her studies. Not until she was 11 years old did Rosa go to a public school. 5 00:00:35,740 --> 00:00:38,740 Before that, she was homeschooled by her mother. 6 00:00:38,740 --> 00:00:45,740 At the age of 11, she attended the industrial school for girls in Montgomery, where she took various vocational and academic courses. 7 00:00:45,740 --> 00:00:53,740 She went to a laboratory school for her secondary education, but she never completed it because she was forced to drop out to care for her ill grandmother. 8 00:00:53,740 --> 00:01:00,340 Her last childhood was greatly influenced by Jim Colossus of the South, which defended 9 00:01:00,340 --> 00:01:06,120 that the isolation which black people suffer was created by the white members of the Democratic 10 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:15,239 Party in the southern states between 1876 and 1963, and by the harassment that she had 11 00:01:15,239 --> 00:01:18,340 to suffer from the white children. 12 00:01:18,340 --> 00:01:24,120 In 1932, Rosa met and married Raymond Parks, who was a barber and an active member of the 13 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:28,079 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 14 00:01:28,079 --> 00:01:32,620 One year later, in 1933, she earned her high school degree. 15 00:01:32,620 --> 00:01:38,000 As soon as she could, she became actively involved in civil rights issues. 16 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:47,799 For example, in 1943, she joined the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP, serving as a youth leader 17 00:01:47,799 --> 00:01:57,560 as well as secretary to the NAACP, President E.J. Nixon, a post she held until 1957. 18 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:04,920 Little did Rosa know how her life was going to change after the first of December 1955. 19 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:11,560 It was an ordinary day in Rosa's life. She was just on her way home after all the day was. 20 00:02:12,199 --> 00:02:16,759 As Rosa always did, she got on the bus and sat down in a black people's place. 21 00:02:16,759 --> 00:02:22,520 Since they were not empty, white people placed, the drivers decided to move back one row, 22 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:25,599 the separation between both types of seats. 23 00:02:25,599 --> 00:02:30,379 One of the seats that were passing from one side to another corresponded with Rosa Parks' 24 00:02:30,379 --> 00:02:31,379 one. 25 00:02:31,379 --> 00:02:35,639 Surprisingly, she denied to let her seat to a white person. 26 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:39,439 Finally, she was arrested because of her rejection. 27 00:02:39,439 --> 00:02:46,400 Not only did Rosa fight for her right that day, but also she started a huge movement. 28 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:54,400 The same day she was arrested, Edie Dixon, the head of the local chapter of the NAACP, 29 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:59,539 started forming plans to organize a boycott of the Montgomery city buses. 30 00:02:59,539 --> 00:03:05,800 Ads were placed in local papers and handbooks were printed and distributed in black neighborhoods. 31 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:14,039 On the 5th of December, 1955, the African-American community was asked to stay off the city buses. 32 00:03:14,039 --> 00:03:20,180 With most of them not riding the bus, Organizy believed that a longer boycott might be successful. 33 00:03:20,180 --> 00:03:26,560 So that morning, they were at a meeting at the MT Science Arts in Montgomery to discuss 34 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:27,560 new strategies. 35 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:31,280 They formed the Montgomery Improvement Association. 36 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:38,159 This association believed that the Rosa Parks case was an excellent opportunity to take 37 00:03:38,159 --> 00:03:41,300 further action to create real change. 38 00:03:41,300 --> 00:03:47,300 On the day of her trial, she was found guilty of violating a local ordinance and was fined $10. 39 00:03:47,300 --> 00:03:50,300 No way was this sentence going to be ignored. 40 00:03:50,300 --> 00:03:53,300 It triggered the Montgomery bus boycott. 41 00:03:53,300 --> 00:03:58,300 The African-American community stopped using buses for more than one year. 42 00:03:58,300 --> 00:04:01,300 This movement was not disappointing. 43 00:04:01,300 --> 00:04:05,300 An incredible reaction took place by a part of the society. 44 00:04:05,300 --> 00:04:07,300 Black charities were banned. 45 00:04:07,300 --> 00:04:13,139 Luther King Jr. and A.G. Nixon's homes were destroyed by bombings. Black citizens were 46 00:04:13,139 --> 00:04:19,540 arrested for violating an antiquated law prohibiting boycotts. But under North Dakota 47 00:04:19,540 --> 00:04:26,019 law, were they going to end the boycott up? With the transit company and the downturn businesses 48 00:04:26,019 --> 00:04:32,019 suffering financial loss and the legal system ruling against them, the city of Montgomery has 49 00:04:32,019 --> 00:04:39,459 no choice but to leave enforcement of segregation on public basis and the boycott officially ended 50 00:04:39,459 --> 00:04:47,139 on the 20th of December 1956. Although she had become a symbol of the civil rights movement, 51 00:04:47,860 --> 00:04:54,019 she suffered hardship in the months following her arrest and the subsequent boycott. She lost 52 00:04:54,019 --> 00:04:59,699 her department store job and her husband was fired. The couple, along with Rosa's mother, 53 00:04:59,699 --> 00:05:07,939 moved to Detroit, Michigan. There, Rosa started a new life for herself, working as a secretary 54 00:05:07,939 --> 00:05:13,220 and receptionist in the U.S. Representative John Connors Congressional Office. She also served on 55 00:05:13,220 --> 00:05:20,019 the board of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In 1987, with a longtime friend, 56 00:05:20,019 --> 00:05:26,819 Elaine Easton Steele, Rosa founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development. 57 00:05:26,819 --> 00:05:34,019 the organization runs pathways to freedom busters which introduce young people to important civil 58 00:05:34,019 --> 00:05:43,060 rights and also underground railroad sites throughout the country in 1992 she published 59 00:05:43,060 --> 00:05:50,339 an autobiography writing by herself it was called rosa parks my story apart of that book she also 60 00:05:50,339 --> 00:05:58,899 brought quite strength. This book includes her memoirs and focuses on the role that 61 00:05:58,899 --> 00:06:06,019 religious faith played throughout her life. In 1998, the hip-hop group Outkast released a song 62 00:06:06,019 --> 00:06:14,180 called Rosa Parks, which became a hit during the following year. In 1999, Rosa filed a lawsuit 63 00:06:14,180 --> 00:06:22,500 against the group alleging defamation and false advertising because outcasts used Rosa's name 64 00:06:22,500 --> 00:06:34,660 without her permission. In 2003, a judge dismissed the defamation claims. On the 14th of April 2005, 65 00:06:35,300 --> 00:06:43,540 the case was settled. The hip-hop group and Rosa got into an agreement. They were going to develop 66 00:06:43,540 --> 00:06:46,220 of educational programs together. 67 00:06:46,220 --> 00:06:50,639 On the 14th of October, 2005, Rosa Quadli died 68 00:06:50,639 --> 00:06:53,579 in her apartment in Detroit, Michigan. 69 00:06:53,579 --> 00:06:56,660 She had been diagnosed the previous year 70 00:06:56,660 --> 00:06:58,399 with progressive dementia. 71 00:06:59,879 --> 00:07:02,980 Her death was marked with several memorial services 72 00:07:02,980 --> 00:07:07,139 among them lying in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC, 73 00:07:07,139 --> 00:07:11,899 where an estimated 50,000 people in her casket.