It’s Her Story: Rosa Parks

It’s Her Story: Rosa Parks recounts Rosa Parks’ life, from humble origins, to an act that would lead her to be declared ‘the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.

In her early years, her grandfather separated her and her brother from playing with white children on their Alabama farm, fearful of reprisals. When Rosa went to school, it was a school for black children- ‘coloureds’- only. What’s more, even the public water fountains were segregated.

Although Rosa was able, her circumstances meant her academic promise at a Montgomery secondary school was stifled by the need for her to care for her grandmother. Yet she studied after hours, working as a seamstress, in order to graduate from High School. What’s more, she became interested in the Civil Rights’ movement, influenced by Raymond Parks, the man she would marry.

Yet Rosa’s interest became stronger; she elected to become one fo the first women to join the NAACP- the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured Peoples. Thereafter, when bus driver James F. Blake demanded she give up her  seat on the bus for a white man, she refused. When she was arrested for her action, the president of Rosa’s NAACP chapter hired a lawyer to fight her case.

On December 5th, 1955, Rosa was found guilty for her action, yet it inspired a boycott of bus travel in Montgomery by black and sympathetic citizens that lasted thirteen months. They demanded an end to ‘bus segregation‘.

The story and graphics are bright, engaging and astounding. We are awed by Rosa’s courage and then the bravery of others who took up her call. Rosa Parks’ story is important to each of us today as we consider how we might stand up for what we believe is fair. It’s My Story: Rosa Parks is recommended as a title to read and discuss at home, and then for school bookshelves, too.