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Overview
She just wouldn’t get up—and with that simple, courageous act Rosa Parks struck a blow against injustice. Parks showed what one person, without guns or violence, could do to change the course of history forever. Nelson Mandela claimed "she is who inspired us to be fearless when facing our oppressors.” As a volunteer secretary for the NAACP, Parks chronicled racial injustices and fought for desegregation. Then, on December 1, 1955, she made a stand on a Montgomery, Alabama bus: she refused to relinquish her seat for a white man. Her arrest mobilized the black community for a citywide bus boycott that led to a landmark Supreme Court decision. Award-winning author Ruth Ashby beautifully conveys Park’s dignity and determination.
Synopsis
She just wouldn’t get up—and with that simple act Rosa Parks struck a blow against injustice. Her refusal to give her seat to a white man mobilized the black community for a citywide bus boycott that led to a landmark Supreme Court decision. She showed that one person, without violence, could change the course of history. Award-winning author Ruth Ashby beautifully conveys Park’s dignity and determination.
Children's Literature
"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." Rosa Parks proved that a courageous act could make an undeniable difference. From the beginning of her life, she fought back against racial discrimination. This culminated in the historic December night when Rosa took a stand and refused to give up her sit in the "white" section of the bus. The political context goes far beyond this well-known bus incident. Many of these events are detailed throughout the text. She started school, left school to care for her grandmother, married Raymond Parks, earned her high school diploma, joined the NAACP, passed a required literacy test, registered to vote, and took workshops at Highlander Folk School on how to implement desegregation. All of these events empowered her to stay in her seat on December 1, 1955. Abundant sidebars define the important events. In addition, the photographs, timeline and colorful text features provide a glimpse of the other significant people and events of that time. This biography takes you through a civil rights event that started on a bus and the affects it continues to have today. Reviewer: Megen Shields