Rosa Parks 1

Rosa Parks
“Mother of Movement”

Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4, 1913. She went to Montgomery Industrial School for girls and graduated from All African American Booker T. Washington High School in 1928. She even went to Alabama State College for a little bit.    
Her husband and Rosa Parks were involved in many different civil rights causes (e.g.: voting for blacks). She decided not to pay the fourteen dollars of court cost, and this case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and after another trial, Rosa and her husband both lost their jobs.         
Throughout her life, she gave speeches and attended marches involved in civil rights struggle. Rosa Parks established the Institute of Self Development for Young People and became an assistant Representative for John Conyers Jr. of Michigan in 1965. She worked for free; all she wanted in return was freedom. On December 1st, 1955 she boycotted in a bus, not willing to give up her seat for a white man, just because all the seats reserved for white people in the front of the bus were full, which initiated a new era in America’s search for freedom and equality.

Questions:

I consider Rosa Parks, Mahatma Ghandi and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan great human beings. Rosa Parks, the person I chose for my Living History Project, is a great person because she started a new era in the fight for equality and freedom for African Americans. Mahatma Ghandi, an Indian man who was sent to England in 1888 from his family to study law. He was the most important and famous political and spiritual leader during the fight for India's independence in the 20th century and during his opposition against the British rule he was imprisoned many times, but still held on to his emphasis about the force of truth and non-violence . He was President of the Indian National Congress from 1925 to 1934, but he never held a government office.               
Rania Al Abdullah is queen of Jordan (next to Israel), and also has her own organization called the Jordan River Foundation (JRF), which helps disadvantaged or disabled people in Jordan. Queen Rania is very caring about the people in her country and she spends a lot of time talking to people and listening to their requests and worries so she can actually address the problems of her people. She also tries to prepare children for life by repairing local schools, while inspiring teachers to be their best and so enabling everyone national education.

All three of these great people did something for their own people and inspired many others. They made life for either people of their country, religion or skin color a lot easier and freed them from some of their problems and worries. Most great human beings have in common that they spread integrity, were persistent but with generosity (many of them have/had charity organizations), were risk takers, inspired many other people and changed their perspective about certain things.

Something else that makes Rosa Parks great apart from her boycott in the bus, is that she worked for free and that she was willing to risk everything for people of her kind; for freedom and equality. Her Montgomery Bus Boycott led to the abolition of racial segregation and she inspired not only black people, but people all over the world to stop racism and start equality. She was an international recognized symbol of civil/equal rights and also worked with Martin Luther King Jr. After her boycott, she risked a lot for African Americans and equality and also went to jail many times.

This picture is a picture of one of the many times Rosa Parks went to jail (for not paying the court fine, not giving up her seat in the bus, etc.). It symbolizes that she was a risk taker and willing to do nearly anything to reach her goal and win the fight for freedom and equality.