Rosa Parks was an American hero, at least to the 12.8% of the citizens living in the U.S.A. today. I’m sure everyone remembers the day that Rosa Parks was arrested. But for those of you that don’t know, Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white man on a city bus in December of 1955. According to an article called “Rosa Parks” on Contemporary Arts Online by Gale, Parks changed history forever just by not paying any attention whatsoever. That night she had been working a very late hard job, and was dozing off when the bus driver told her to move. In her autobiography, Parks says, “If I had been paying attention, I wouldn’t have even gotten on the bus.” Unlike many may know, Rosa Parks’ case was not a unique one. Many black citizens like Rosa were arrested for not giving up their seat on the bus. In the article “Parks, Rose Louise” it says that the black leaders had been trying to think of a way to protest against racial segregation on the buses and finally they figured it out after Parks’ arrest. The leaders announced that all the blacks were boycotting the city buses. Eventually after Parks was arrested and the boycott lasting for 381 days, the Supreme Court decided that segregation on the city buses was officially illegal. When she was released, Parks tried the best she could to lead a normal life. Unfortunately, a lot of whites thought otherwise. After I read the article “Rosa Parks” on Contemporary Authors Online I learned that the incident had a severe negative effect on her life. Rosa was fired from her job as a seamstress, received multiple threats, and was even hassled. Also after Parks was released and was famous among the blacks, she was mugged by a 28-year-old white man for $58 at the age of 74. But before many of the whites decided to turn against her Rosa got married to a barber named Raymond Parks, who shared as equally horrible childhood as Rosa did. Raymond’s job in the community was to encourage people to register to vote. The newly weds moved to Detroit in hope of a fresh start. There they found somewhat of a success, but not right away. The Parks had difficulty finding work for quite some time. Eventually, Rosa was hired by a Detroit-area Congressman to be his aid while Raymond still worked on blacks’ rights. Soon the Parks couple moved to Virginia to be with Rosa’s mother. This is where the Parks stayed for a while. They were both comfortable and happy in the new environment. Sadly it was not the happy ending we were all hoping would happen for an American hero. In 2002, Rosa Parks suffered from dementia and faced financial problems. She even had to rely on her church for a while because she was so broke. On October 24, 2005, Rosa Parks died a national hero.
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