Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks, the "mother of the civil rights movement" was one of the most important citizens of the 20th century. Mrs. Parks was a seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama when, in December of 1955, she refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger. The bus driver had her arrested. She was tried and convicted of violating a local ordinance. Her act sparked a citywide boycott of the bus system that lasted more than a year. The boycott raised an unknown clergyman named Martin Luther King, Jr., to national prominence and resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation on city buses. Over the next four decades, Rosa Parks helped make her fellow Americans aware of the history of the civil rights struggle. This pioneer in the struggle for racial equality was the recipient of innumerable honors, including the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her example remains an inspiration to freedom-loving people everywhere. Rosa Parks addressed the Academy of Achievement at its 1995 Summit in Williamsburg, Virginia. In this audio podcast, recorded on that occasion, she shares her experiences as an activist and leader of the civil rights movement. She characterizes her own life's work as an effort to inspire others to reach their highest potential, and to help all people achieve equality and freedom. She urges the Academy's student delegates to rid themselves of prejudice, and to practice love, honesty, and goodwill.. Rosa Parks died in 2005, at the age of 92. After her death, her casket was placed in the rotunda of the United States Capitol for two days, so the nation could pay its respects to the woman whose courage had changed the lives of so many. She is the only woman in American history to lie in state at the Capitol, an honor usually reserved for Presidents of the United States.