Rosa Parks 3

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks
Jeanne Theoharis
10 of 221 pages
Biography

Quote from the book: “I should not feel because of my race or color, inferior to any person. That I should do my very best to be a respectable person, to respect myself, to expect respect from others, and to learn what I possibly could for self improvement.” This is what Rosa Parks said about discrimination and how she feels about it and herself. She learned a lot from her grandfather and her mother, which both also made her strong and care about her freedom.

What happened until now: What I read about this week was a lot about her early life and how she grew up to be a strong, independent woman that really wants to win freedom for herself and other black people. She learned a lot from her mother and her grandfather, who taught her to stand up for herself and not “feel inferior to anyone”. Another thing I read about her death and memorials, is that in all the speeches about her, her actual civil rights activities and all her sacrifices were often not mentioned, or at least only in the background.

Answers to the Questions:

1. I think it means to achieve all, or at least a lot, of the person’s personal goals. A self actualized human being should be able to say “I achieved a lot”, before they die, and they should be able to be proud of what they have done. I think there are many self actualized human beings; some of them are a little more self actualized, others less. For example, some people might achieve only a few of their goals, but they can still be proud of it. Maybe one of the things they’ve done was really big and changed their life. Other people might do a lot, and actually successfully achieve all their goals, but they might be smaller goals that are easier to master. I think Rosa Parks was a self actualized woman. She was involved in civil rights fights and struggles before her bus boycott, but after that she started doing and fighting a lot more. I think she achieved a lot of her goals, since she actually managed to get more people interested in equal rights, and is now actually seen as a sign, or even “the mother of” civil rights movement.
2. I found it interesting that she actually had a big connection to church, and grew up always close to church. I also found it interesting that she learned more from her mum and grandfather, than from her dad. I guess that is because Rosa Park’s parents divorced, and Rosa went to live on her grandparent’s farm together with her brother and her mother.
3. She was educated partly at home, and partly at public schools. She was homeschooled on her grandparent’s farm until she was 11 years old, because of her bad health state. It was a big advantage that Leona Edwards McCauley, Rosa Park’s mother, was a teacher. Later in her life, Rosa Parks studied academic and vocational courses at the Industrial School for Girls in Montgomery, Alabama. She also got schooled at a special laboratory set up for secondary education, although she didn’t finish the courses there because her grandmother, and later her mother, turned very ill. In 1932, Rosa got married to Raymond Parks, and he encouraged her to finish school. She received her high school diploma in 1933.

This is a picture of Rosa Parks, and her husband, Raymond Parks. They stood through a lot together, and he was really important to her life, not only because he helped her finish school.
They both lost their jobs due to fighting for their rights, but they still stayed together. I think that he also gave her a lot of mental support and it was very sad when he died in 1977. But it showed that Rosa was actually a really strong person, because even though she suffered, she still continued to fight for her rights and tried to honor her husband.