Rosa Parks: The Courage to Make a Difference

Children's Literature - Elizabeth D. Schafer

This slight biography disregards many essential aspects of Rosa Parks' life which exemplified her consistent courage. Although describing Parks' husband as an activist, the text does not examine Parks' service as the Montgomery National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branch's secretary and Youth Council advisor. This biography does not mention that the Montgomery Voters League met at Parks' house and that she instructed people how to pass voter registration tests. Nor does it reveal prior incidents challenging Montgomery's busing laws such as Claudette Colvin, a youth in Parks' group, being arrested in March 1955 for refusing to surrender her seat. This biography ignores Parks' friendship with white lawyer Clifford Durr and his wife Virginia, who secured a scholarship for Parks to attend the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee during the summer of 1955, specifically discussing desegregation and how to seek legal changes. The nonviolent, spiritual essence of Parks' and boycotters' actions is not noted. This biography overlooks how Parks observed President Lyndon B. Johnson sign the 1965 Voting Rights Act, walked in the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march, witnessed the 1989 Civil Rights Memorial dedication in Montgomery, and attended fortieth anniversary boycott commemorations. Suggested sites omit Montgomery places relevant to Parks, including the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Volume in the "American Heroes" series.