"I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people."

    Rosa Parks was famous for her pride. She was involved in the civil rights movement and in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She showed courage because she went to jail before giving up her bus seat.

    On December 1,1955 she refused to give up her seat. A white man came on the bus and the bus driver told her to get up. She said, "I won't get up," so she was thrown into jail. Then the bus boycott began. A lady named Jo Ann Robinson helped organize the bus boycott. She was up all night making many papers that said don't ride the buses. Black people in Montgomery decided not to ride buses because they didnít want white people to make all the money that came from the bus riders. Bus riders were 75 percent black people and 25 percent white people. Black people didn't want to give them their money because they had to sit in the back and whites sat in the front. They did not return to the public transportation for over a year. They didn't get back on those buses until the Supreme Court said there shouldnít be racial segregation. Rosa Parks lost her job and so did others, but they didn't give up.

    She and her family eventually moved to Detroit. When they moved to Detroit she found a job. She worked for Congressman John Conyers for many year. Later in her life, she offered guidance to young African Americans to prepare for leadership and careers. Now she lives in New York. Rosa Parks was born in the year of 1913 but she is still remembered on this earth. Since her 77th birthday she's been known as "Civil Rights' mother."

    Ms. Parks, we really admire your guidance and leadership.