The Mother of the Freedom Movement In 1955, an African-American seamstress helped cause the civil rights movement in the United States, and her name was Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks was an African-American civil rights activist. Many know her as “the first lady of civil rights” or “the mother of the freedom movement.” Rosa Parks once said, “I saw the bus go by every day, but to me that was a way of life; we had no choice but to accept what was the custom. The bus was one of the first ways I realized there was a black world and a white world.” (The Story Behind The Bus) After saying this, he knew he had to take a stand against segregation and do everything in his power to change it. Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was born on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama to her parents. James McCauley and Leona Edwards. Eventually, in 1915, Rosa's parents divorced, and her mother took her and her brother to live in Pine Level. At Pine Level, Rosa lived with her grandparents most of the time. Rosa was home-schooled until she was eleven, then attended a public school called the Industrial School for Girls. She followed professional and academic courses, and also started a laboratory school for secondary education, but unfortunately she was never able to finish it because she was forced to abandon her studies to take care of her sick grandmother. Growing up, Rosa was influenced by Jim Crow laws, these laws separated whites from blacks in almost everything they did, including public restrooms, drinking fountains, education, and transportation. Transportation for blacks was very different than for whites, whites were allowed to take the bus to school while blacks had to walk to their schools. Public t...... middle of paper ...... neither would take a stand for what they believed in because they thought no one would agree or try to help them change these laws. The Montgomery Bus Boycott took place from December 5, 1955 to December 20, 1956. This boycott occurred when African Americans refused to ride any city buses in Montgomery, Alabama to protest segregated seating. Just two days after Parks' arrest, 40,000 people had already organized this boycott. Many whites tried to stop the boycott by attempting to separate the black community, and also attempted to tear down the private taxi system that allowed blacks to have transportation. Over 66% of the people riding these buses were black, which caused tons of buses to begin to suffer financially. The Montgomery Boycott changed a lot, but the greatest effect it had was to stop segregation against blacks.