Black History Icons: Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was born on <br />February 4, 1913, and passed on October 24, 2005. Here are five facts about <br />the “mother of the modern <br />day civil rights movement.” 1. She was a civil rights activist <br />as a member of the NAACP before <br />her famous bus arrest. 2. Parks revealed she didn’t refuse to <br />leave her seat because she was tired, <br />but because she “was tired of giving in.” 3. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton in 1996. 4. Historians consider her arrest and the <br />Montgomery bus boycott to be what <br />sparked the Civil Rights Movement. 5. She was the first woman to lie in honor at the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol after she passed. Happy Birthday, Rosa Parks!
