Rosa Louise McCauley Parks—Profession: Civil rights activist, seamstress, NAACP secretary, author—Nationality: American—Born: February 4, 1913—Birthplace: Tuskegee, Alabama, United States—Generation: Greatest Generation (often also grouped with the G.I. Generation)—Chinese Zodiac: Water Ox (1913)—Zodiac Sign: Aquarius—Age in 2026: Deceased (would be 113)—Marital Status: Married to Raymond Parks (from 1932 until he died in 1977)—Children: No biological children; helped raise nieces and young relatives and mentored many younger activists— Description: Rosa Louise McCauley Parks is internationally known as a central figure in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, celebrated for the quiet yet world-changing Her shocking act of refusing to surrender her seat on a segregated Montgomery, Alabama, bus in December 1955 sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and catalyzed a mass movement against racial segregation in the United States. Born in Tuskegee and raised mainly in Pine Level, Alabama, she grew up in the rigidly segregated Jim Crow South, where racial violence, discriminatory laws, and daily humiliations formed the backdrop of Black life; her grandfather, a supporter of Marcus Garvey, kept a shotgun for protection, and Rosa witnessed both the terror and courage that shaped many Black families’ responses to white supremacy. As a child, she walked long distances to attend segregated schools for Black children while white children were bused, experiencing early on the structural inequalities in education; she eventually left high school to care for her ill grandmother and mother, but later returned to complete her diploma, an achievement that reflected the determination and self-respect that would define her activism. In 1932, she married Raymond Parks, a barber and early civil rights activist who worked with the NAACP to support the defense of the Scottsboro Boys, and their marriage became a partnership in struggle; through him, she became more deeply involved in organized resistance and community work. By the 1940s, she was serving as secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP, meticulously documenting cases of racial violence and discrimination, including the attempted rape of Recy Taylor, a Black woman attacked by white men in 1944; Parks helped investigate and publicize Taylor’s case, revealing her decades-long ordeal. long commitment to justice for Black women survivors of sexual violence, a part of her story often overshadowed by the bus boycott. On December 1, 1955 (sometimes misremembered as later in the month), after years of enduring segregated buses and protesting violence, she boarded a Montgomery city bus after work and sat in the “colored” section; when the white section filled, the driver demanded that she and three other Black passengers move to free a row for white riders. While others eventually complied, Parks refused, not because she was physically too tired—she later emphasized that she was “tired of giving in”—but because she felt morally exhausted by the daily indignity of racism; her refusal led to her arrest under segregation laws and a ten? A dollar fine plus court costs, setting in motion events that would alter American history. Local Black leaders, including E.D. Nixon and Jo Ann Robinson, quickly organized a one-day bus boycott, distributing tens of thousands of leaflets; the protest proved so successful that it was extended and formalized under the newly formed Montgomery Improvement Association, which selected a young pastor, Martin Luther King Jr., as its president. The boycott lasted 381 days, during which Black residents walked, carpooled, and endured harassment and economic hardship to challenge segregated transportation; their persistence, combined with legal action, led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1956 decision in Browder v. Gayle, which declared bus segregation unconstitutional and marked a major victory in the fight against Jim Crow. Parks, however, paid a heavy personal price: she lost her job as a seamstress, her husband also lost work, and they faced threats and ongoing harassment in Montgomery, eventually deciding to relocate to Detroit, Michigan, in 1957, where she rebuilt her life while continuing to fight for civil rights and economic justice. In Detroit, she worked for years as a secretary and receptionist for Congressman John Conyers Jr., using her position to assist constituents and support broader social justice causes; she spoke out against police brutality, housing discrimination, and northern forms of racism, demonstrating that her activism extended far beyond the single bus protest for which she is most famous. She cofounded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self. In 1987, she collaborated with Elaine Eason Steele to create educational "Pathways to Freedom" bus tours, which guided young people to significant civil rights and Underground Railroad sites, thereby educating new generations about the history of Black struggle and perseverance. Parks authored an autobiography, “Rosa Parks: My Story,” and a spiritual memoir, “Quiet Strength,” reflecting on her life, faith, and activism. She became an enduring symbol of dignified resistance, recognized by awards such as the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1996), and the Congressional Gold Medal (1999). Often referred to as the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” she spent her later years attending events, speaking, and quietly encouraging younger activists, even as health and financial challenges occasionally affected her private life. Rosa Parks died on October 24, 2005, at the age of 92 in Detroit; the cause of death was reported as natural causes related to age. After her passing, she became the first woman in U.S. history to lie in honor in the rotunda of the United States Capitol, a powerful recognition of her life. reaching the impact of her courage, discipline, and lifelong commitment to justice that began long before and continued long after the moment she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus.