Rosa Parks

Excerpts from a Civics Textbook I Assume Would be Welcome in Florida

by Alexandra Petri

"American history is full of many heroes, whose accomplishments we will have no problem telling you about in the state of Florida! They fought for justice, which was brave of them, if a little redundant, because there was no specific injustice to fight against."

How Textbook Publishers are Censoring the Story of Rosa Parks to Sell Books in Florida

The conservative Florida Citizens Alliance, a group allied with the DeSantis administration, has called for rejection of 28 of the 38 texts its members reviewed. One publisher's editing of the story of the Montgomery Boycott illustrates their power. 

Rosa Parks: Radical

by Jeanne Theoharis

At the 110th anniversary of her birth, it's important to remember the civil rights icon as a militant organizer and career activist, writes the author of a new biography. 

Don't Pit Rosa Parks Against Claudette Colvin – Recognize the Movement Both Shared In

by Jeanne Theoharis and Say Burgin

Multiple myths about Rosa Parks – that she was a reluctant and accidental crusader, or that she usurped the leadership of the younger Claudette Colvin – obscure the grassroots movement in Montgomery and the intergenerational mentorship the two women shared. 

Excerpt: A Late-Life Friend Shares Rosa Parks's Memory of Her (Widely Misunderstood) Refusal to Move

by H.H. Leonards

H.H. Leonards was asked in 1994 to host an elderly woman she didn't know, and didn't at first recognize as a civil rights pioneer. This spring she is publishing the lessons she learned from an unlikely friendship with Rosa Parks. 

The Real Rosa Parks Story Is Better Than the Fairy Tale

by Jeanne Theoharis

“I don’t believe in gradualism,” she made clear, “or that whatever is to be done for the better should take forever to do.”

The Hidden Life of Rosa Parks

by Riché D. Richardson

A brief video examines Rosa Park's work as a racial justice activist before the Montgomery Bus Boycott. 

NAACP Houston Condemns City Council Member Over Rosa Parks Reference

Councilman Michael Kubosh compared the violation of social distancing orders to the actions of civil rights icon Rosa Parks.

Rosa Parks on Police Brutality: The Speech We Never Heard

by Say Burgin

In 1965, Rosa Parks would have had a lot to say about police brutality.

'Utterly moved to be involved': Montgomery-born historian serves as model for Rosa Parks statue

Dr. Kimberly Brown Pellum has spent her career studying black women’s history. So, when the Montgomery native and Florida A&M University history professor was approached last summer to serve as a model for a monument to legendary civil rights activist Rosa Parks, she didn’t hesitate to say yes.

'Human, vulnerable and perfect': New Rosa Parks exhibit shines light on civil rights legend

The Rosa Parks collection includes 140 years of family history and approximately 10,000 items, according to curator Adrienne Cannon.

The Problem with The Rosa Parks Barbie

by Andrea S. Johnson

Rosa Parks wasn't just a tired seamstress with aching feet. The true story of Rosa Parks that historians have worked hard to reconstruct is continually lost in public consumption.

Stonewall's Legacy and Kwame Anthony Appiah's Misuse of History

by Alan Singer

What Appiah misses in his dismissal of the Stonewall Rebellion’s historical importance is that symbols like Rosa Parks sitting down and Stonewall are crucial to social movements as they mobilize and move from the political margins to the center of civic discourse.

Found: Rosa Parks’s Arrest Warrant, and More Traces of Civil Rights History

When the Montgomery bus boycott electrified the struggle against segregation, it was all recorded in appeals bonds, court motions and $10 fines. A forgotten trove has turned up in a courthouse vault.

Before the Bus, Rosa Parks Was a Sexual Assault Investigator

The women standing up today are in fact part of a long history of activists fighting sexual harassment.

Rosa Parks House in Berlin Has a Ticket Home to America

In a backyard in Berlin, a ramshackle house that was once a haven for the civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks is preparing for its third life — back in the United States.

Saved From Demolition, Rosa Parks’s House Gets a Second Life

After it was threatened with demolition, the house was moved to Berlin, where it was opened to the public in early April.

Detroit House Preserves Memories of a Little-Known Part of Rosa Parks’s Life

The house’s materials have been shipped to an artist in Berlin, who wants to reconstruct the house to honor Ms. Parks’s life and her extraordinary role in the civil rights movement.

You Still Don’t Know the Whole Rosa Parks Story

Yes, she was arrested on Dec. 1, 1955, for refusing to give up her seat—but that's not the whole story

Rosa Parks' archive opening to public at Library of Congress

Beginning Wednesday at the Library of Congress, researchers and the public will have full access to Parks' archive of letters, writings, personal notes and photographs for the first time.