Parks, Rosa (1913–2005)

Rosa Parks is known for her refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, public bus to a white passenger. She joined the NAACP in 1943 after marrying Raymond Parks and served as secretary to NAACP president E. D. Nixon until 1957. She was arrested in 1955 after refusing to give up her seat, inciting a boycott that crippled the Montgomery public transit system. After a year of fighting, the city ended the law that segregated buses. She moved to Detroit, served on Planned Parenthood’s board, and founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development.