Rosa Parks

By: Evelyn

Main Idea:

Rosa Parks fought for the rights for everybody to be able to sit anywhere on the bus and to not give her seat away to a white person. One day Rosa went on the bus to go to work and she sat next to a black stranger. A few white people came on the bus and they needed more room. The bus driver told everyone who was black to move for the white people. Rosa didn’t though. She stood up to the person. The bus driver got really mad at her for not getting up her seat and threatened her and said they would call the police. She got arrested but not hurt. When she got arrested her mom and her husband came to pick her up.

She was in a group called the “NAACP.” They fought together and protested for the rights of black people. They also help Rosa Parks with the Montgomery Bus Boycott. A good amount of people both black and white pitched in to help Rosa. The boycott lasted over a year. People were threatening her but she felt like if she gave in now then she had done this for nothing. She never gave up her thought that it wasn’t right that segregation was happening.

Background information:

People were treated differently because of the color of their skin. White people were treated better than black people. Life for white people compared to the black people was different since white people had much more than black people including power. People wanted to make the black people give up on themselves when they were trying to stop segregation. A lot of people did not like what they were doing because some white people didn’t want white and black people to have equal power.

Describe their childhood:

Rosa lived on a farm. She had one sibling which was her brother. Their dad always had a shotgun in his hand when they were at home because sometimes people in white cloaks (the Klu Klux Klan) threatened them and tried to hurt them. Sometimes Rosa slept with her dad overnight to be safer.

What were some obstacles or challenges they faced:

Rosa got arrested for not giving away her seat to a white person. She didn’t give up her seat not just for her family to be treated better but for everyone who was black to be treated better.

If I could ask her one question it would be:

What was it like to live during segregation?

Why do you think this person is significant today?:

Because Rosa helped black people be treated equally.

Fun facts:

Rosa lived on a farm with her little brother. When her little brother got older he went to war.

Character traits:

Rosa is brave because she didn't give away her seat to a white person just because of her skin color.

Rosa is smart because she found ways to try to stop segregation.

Rosa is kind because she didn’t think mean things about people who threatened her. She thought good things even if they weren’t being nice.