Rosa McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. As a young girl she attended segregated schools and then a private school in Montgomery. She married Ray Parks, a barber, in 1932. Her husband was active in several civil rights organizations, and Rosa Parks soon began volunteering for several groups, including the Montgomery Voters League. In 1943 she joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to help ensure voting rights for African Americans. On December 1, 1955, Parks refused to give her seat on a bus to a white man, as was required by Alabama law. She was arrested and her arrest sparked a 381-day bus boycott, led by Martin Luther King Jr. Parks was found guilty in an Alabama court and was fined. She appealed the case through the NAACP to the Supreme Court, which in 1956 ruled that segregation on buses was unconstitutional. In later years, Parks continued working with the NAACP and other civil rights organizations. In 1986 she was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for her work for social justice.
