Rosa Parks (Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, born February 4, 1913 – died October 24, 2005) was an African American civil rights activist, whom the United States Congress called "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement". On December 1, 1955, she resisted bus segregation in the State of Alabama. Her birthday, February 4, and the day she was arrested, December 1, have both become Rosa Parks Day, commemorated in California and Missouri (February 4), and Ohio and Oregon (December 1).

After her arrest for civil disobedience in violating Alabama segregation laws, she initiated a court challenge with help from the NAACP. Her case however became bogged down in the state courts. While another case, Browder v. Gayle succeeded.

Rosa Parks received great recognition in life and death. Upon her death in 2005, she was the first woman and third non-U.S. government official to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.

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