The African-American civil rights activists Rosa Parks was born on this day 97 years ago. What a coincidence that her birthday is at the beginning of Black History Month- very fitting.
On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks, age 42, refused to obey bus driver James Blake’s order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger.
“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true,” she said in her biography, My Story. “I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
We love Rosa Parks for sticking up for herself and the rights of others. To some that be “light- work” but something so small made such a big difference! The Civil Rights pioneer passed away on October 24, 2005 at the age of 92. Happy Birthday Rosa Parks!
Check out Outkast’s tribute to Rosa:
“Everybody move to the back of the bus”
