Civil rights leader, Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, was born on February 4th, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. She had a troubled childhood in regards to racism and segregation, but an even worse time as a young adult. She had run-ins with the police due to her standing up against these issues, but nobody even bothered to do anything until her bus incident. After the incident she accomplished many things and received many awards up until her death on October 24th, 2005 at the age of 92.
As a child, Rosa attended a private all-black Montgomery Industrial School for Girls in Pine Level, Alabama. She was exposed to countless incidents of racism and segregation, especially on her way to and from school. As a teen Rosa went to Alabama State Teachers College for high school. This all affected her actions later in life. Around this time Rosa was beginning to wonder why no one was doing anything about the racism and segregation problems, so as soon as she was out of school and had turned 18 she joined the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) and was a strong member from the start. At this time she was already becoming somewhat of a civil rights leader, with democratic and laissez-faire leadership styles. She faced also many challenges as a young adult, like figuring out how she was going to live or even how she was going to pay for groceries because as a coloured woman, her pay was considerably lower than white women. Because of this, Rosa had to work several jobs at a time. Life became somewhat easier when she married her husband, Raymond Parks in 1932, also an active member of the NAACP. They both participated in many protests and events organized and run by the NAACP. Rosa even became the secretary for the association's branch in Montgomery, Alabama. But Rosa was still unhappy about how little was being done about the issues at hand. So, on December 1st, 1955, Rosa took a stand.
