Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an American civil rights activist. She is best known for her 1955 refusal to move from her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in defiance of Jim Crow racial segregation laws, which sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. She is sometimes known as the "mother of the civil rights movement".

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“People always said that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. 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: My Story, p. 116, Rosa Parks and James Haskins (1992)
“I did not get on the bus to get arrested. I got on the bus to go home.”
— Quoted in Rita Dove, "Rosa Parks: Her simple act of protest galvanized America's civil rights revolution," Time (1999-06-14)
“We didn't have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next. I remember going to sleep as a girl hearing the Klan ride at night and hearing a lynching and being afraid the house would burn down.”
— Quoted in "Standing Up for Freedom," Academy of Achievement.org (2005-10-31)
“I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day, but I don't think there is anything such as complete happiness. It pains me that there is still a lot of Klan activity and racism. I think when you say you're happy, you have everything that you need and everything that you want, and nothing more to wish for. I haven't reached that stage yet.”
— Quoted in "Standing Up for Freedom," Academy of Achievement.org (2005-10-31)
“From my upbringing and the Bible I learned people should stand up for rights just as the children of Israel stood up to the Pharaoh.”
— Quoted in The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, by Jeanne Theoharis (2013)
“I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.”
— Quoted in "Women of the Hall: Rosa Parks," Women's National Hall of Fame (undated); said upon her 77th birthday (1990-02-04)

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Notable quotes

“People always said that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. 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: My Story, p. 116, Rosa Parks and James Haskins (1992)
“I did not get on the bus to get arrested. I got on the bus to go home.”
— Quoted in Rita Dove, "Rosa Parks: Her simple act of protest galvanized America's civil rights revolution," Time (1999-06-14)
“We didn't have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next. I remember going to sleep as a girl hearing the Klan ride at night and hearing a lynching and being afraid the house would burn down.”
— Quoted in "Standing Up for Freedom," Academy of Achievement.org (2005-10-31)
“I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day, but I don't think there is anything such as complete happiness. It pains me that there is still a lot of Klan activity and racism. I think when you say you're happy, you have everything that you need and everything that you want, and nothing more to wish for. I haven't reached that stage yet.”
— Quoted in "Standing Up for Freedom," Academy of Achievement.org (2005-10-31)
“From my upbringing and the Bible I learned people should stand up for rights just as the children of Israel stood up to the Pharaoh.”
— Quoted in The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, by Jeanne Theoharis (2013)
“I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.”
— Quoted in "Women of the Hall: Rosa Parks," Women's National Hall of Fame (undated); said upon her 77th birthday (1990-02-04)

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

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Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an American civil rights activist. She is best known for her 1955 refusal to move from her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in defiance of Jim Crow racial segregation laws, which sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. She is sometimes known as the "mother of the civil rights movement".

Overview

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an American civil rights activist. She is best known for her 1955 refusal to move from her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in defiance of Jim Crow racial segregation laws, which sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. She is sometimes known as the "mother of the civil rights movement".

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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