Table of Contents
LITTLE BIOGRAPHIES OF BIG PEOPLE
LITTLE BIOGRAPHIES OF BIG PEOPLE
ROSA PARKS
STOLTMAN
JOAN STOLTMAN
leveled
reader
social studies
leveled
reader
social studies
ISBN: 9781538209356
Levels: GR: H; DRA: 14
LITTLE BIOGRAPHIES
OF BIG PEOPLE
By Joan Stoltman
LITTLE BIOGRAPHIES OF BIG PEOPLE
ROSA
PARKS
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Stoltman, Joan, author.
Title: Rosa Parks / Joan Stoltman.
Description: New York : Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2018. | Series: Little
biographies of big people | Includes index.
Identiers: LCCN 2017023602| ISBN 9781538209332 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781538209349 (6 pack) |
ISBN 9781538209356 (library bound)
Subjects: LCSH: Parks, Rosa, 1913-2005--Juvenile literature. | African
American women--Alabama--Montgomery--Biography--Juvenile literature. |
African Americans--Alabama--Montgomery--Biography--Juvenile literature. |
Civil rights workers--Alabama--Montgomery--Biography--Juvenile literature.
| African Americans--Civil rights--Alabama--Montgomery--History--20th
century--Juvenile literature. | Segregation in
transportation--Alabama--Montgomery--History--20th century--Juvenile
literature. | Montgomery (Ala.)--Race relations--Juvenile literature. |
Montgomery (Ala.)--Biography--Juvenile literature.
Classication: LCC F334.M753 S76 2018 | DDC 323.092 [B] --dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017023602
Published in 2018 by
Gareth Stevens Publishing
111 East 14th Street, Suite 349
New York, NY 10003
Copyright 2018 Gareth Stevens Publishing
Designer: Samantha DeMartin
Editor: Joan Stoltman
Photo credits: series art Yulia Glam/Shutterstock.com; Cover, p. 1 William Philpott/Hulton
Archive/Getty Images; p. 5 MassiveEartha/Wikimedia Commons; pp. 7, 11, 17 Bettmann/
Bettmann/Getty Images; p. 9 (main) Library of Congress/Corbis Historical/Getty
Images; p. 9 (inset) The Washington Post/The Washington Post/Getty Images;
p. 13 UniversalImagesGroup/Universal Images Group/Getty Images; p. 15 Grey Villet/
The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images; p. 19 Taro Yamasaki/The LIFE Images Collection/
Getty Images; p. 21 BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without
permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer.
Printed in the United States of America
CPSIA compliance information: Batch #CW18GS: For further information contact Gareth Stevens, New York, New York at 1-800-542-2595.
CONTENTS
Born in Troubled Times ..............
An Early Leader ....................
The Day Everything Changed ........
A Change Is Gonna Come .........
Continuing to Fight .................
Glossary .........................
For More Information ...............
Index ...........................
Boldface words appear in the glossary.
Born in Troubled Times
Rosa Parks was born in 1913
in Alabama. When she was
young, she moved into her
grandparents house with her
mother and brother, Sylvester. Her
grandparents were both former
slaves. Rosa was born years after
slavery ended, but black people
were still treated badly.
Rosa grew up during
segregation . Black people had
separate elevators, restrooms,
entrances, and even drinking
fountains. A black person could
get hurt or killed for not following
the laws and customs of the
South. Rosas black school had
only one room and one teacher
for 50 students of all ages.
An Early Leader
At age 19, Rosa married
Raymond Parks. He was
a member of the National
Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP).
Rosa joined, too! With the NAACP,
Rosa helped work for black
voting rights, fair treatment
from police and judges, and to
end segregation.
Raymond Parks
The Day Everything
Changed
One day in 1955, Rosa was riding
the bus home from work. In the
South, black people had to sit
in the back of the bus. Whites
could sit in the front. But once
the front was full, the bus driver
tried to give Rosas seat to a
white person. She wouldnt
allow it.
1111
I was not tired
physically
No, the only tired
I was, was tired of
giving in.
- Rosa Parks
The bus driver called the police.
Rosa was taken o the bus and put
in jail. It wasnt the rst time
a black person had stood up
against segregation. But her
friends at the NAACP decided it
would be the last.
A Change Is Gonna Come
The local NAACP group met to
organize a bus boycott . They
placed ads in newspapers
and passed out yers in black
neighborhoods, churches, and
schools. It wasnt easy, but
40,000 black people carpooled ,
biked, walked, and even rode
mules instead of riding the bus.
The bus boycott in Montgomery,
Alabama, was the rst time so
many people stood up against
segregation. Rosa, Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., and 87 others
were jailed for boycotting. Yet the
boycott continued for over a year
until the city changed its laws!
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Continuing to Fight
After segregation was made illegal,
Rosa and Raymond moved to
Detroit, Michigan. Rosa continued to
ght for equal treatment of blacks
and women in schools, housing,
jobs, and the courts. She also taught
many young people about history
and how to be good citizens.
Rosa died at age 92 in 2005. Shes
the only woman to ever lie in state
at the Capitol in Washington, DC.
In 2013, a statue of her was built
at the Capitol. Rosa was one
person who made a big dierence!
Freedom ghters
never retire.
- Rosa Parks
GLOSSARY
boycott: the act of refusing to have dealings with a
person or business in order to force change
carpool: to share a car with other people to travel for
jobs or school
custom: a way of doing things that is usual among the
people in a certain group or place
lie in state: when the body of a famous leader is
displayed in a public place so that people can view it
and show respect
physically: having to do with the body
segregation: the forced separation of races or classes
