Rosa Parks Day

Rosa Parks Day is observed in the United States on December 1 each year in honor of Rosa Parks, a courageous civil rights activist whose refusal to obey segregation laws helped ignite the movement for racial equality.

History

Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. She attended the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls before leaving to care for her mother and grandmother. On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger, defying Jim Crow laws. Her arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a 381-day mass protest that ended when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled bus segregation unconstitutional. In 2000, the California State Legislature officially designated December 1 as Rosa Parks Day; Missouri and several other states later followed.

Interesting Facts

• Parks’s act of defiance led to one of the largest civil rights protests in U.S. history.
• She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999.
• In 1987, she co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development to mentor young leaders.
• Her autobiography, Rosa Parks: My Story, was published in 1992.

How to Take Part

Read Parks’s autobiography, Rosa Parks: My Story, and watch the film The Rosa Parks Story (2002). Attend local commemorative events, share her quotes on social media, and support civil rights organizations that carry on her legacy.

When is Rosa Parks Day in 2025?

Rosa Parks Day is observed on December 1 each year.

Observations