Thursday, December 1, 2011

December 1

It is December 1st, what is the day for today?
I have no clue, I haven't prepared or studied up on it, its all a clean slate. What do I want to do with this space? I know I want to work on my writing, and doing the project of the "what is today" is still fun and quirky.
Quirky is me, but I am also old fashioned and conservative, it just depends on the subject at hand.
Went to one of my calendar cheat sheet websites where I find out the days, today is Rosa Parks Day.
Rosa Parks Day
Have you ever just said to yourself, "I am tired, I don't want to fight, but I am tired of giving in all the time, this is my life, my comfort zone, and you are not going to force me to do, or be someone else!" Now I doubt that is what Rosa Parks was thinking that day, but at the same time, she was tired from work, had been a long day. She was sitting near the front of a bus, and worked as a secretary for the NAACP.
Rosa was involved with the civil rights movement from the inside. She worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr, and others to plan sit ins, boycotts and other ways of "sticking it to the man".

Rosa Louise McCauley
February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama: born
Parents: James and Leona Edwards McCauley
(brother) Sylvester McCauley
born: August 20, 1915
family moved to Pine Level, Alabama where Rosa was reared and educated in the rural school.
After finishing Miss White's School, she went on to Alabama State Teacher's College High School.
December 18, 1932: married Raymond Parks
1934: graduated highschool
Raymond Parks
Born: February 12, 1903
Mr. Parks was an early activist in the effort to free the "Scottsboro Boys," a celebrated case in the 1930's. Together, Raymond and Rosa worked in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP's) programs. He was an active member and she served as secretary and later youth leader of the local branch. At the time of her arrest, she was preparing for a major youth conference.
December 1, 1955: Rosa arrested
1957: they moved to Detroit, Michigan
1964: she became a deaconess in the African Methodist Episcopal Church
1965 to 1988: Congressman John Conyers First Congressional District of Michigan employed Mrs. Parks
1977: Raymond Parks died
February, 1987: Co-founded Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development with Ms. Elaine Eason Steele in honor of her husband, Raymond
September 2, 1998: The Rosa L. Parks Learning Center was dedicated at Botsford Commons (Mrs. Parks was a member of the first graduating class on November 24, 1998)
September 26, 1998: Mrs. Parks was the recipient of the first International Freedom Conductor's Award by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
January 1999: She attended her first "State of the Union Address"
February 4, 1999: Representative Julia Carson of Indianapolis, Indiana introduced H. R. Bill 573, which would award Mrs. Rosa Parks the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor if it passed the House of Representatives and the Senate by a majority. The bill was passed unanimously in the Senate on April 19, and with one descenting vote in the House of Representatives on April 20. President Clinton signed it into law on May 3, 1999.
January 1999: Mrs. Parks met Pope John-Paul II in St. Louis, MO and read a statement to him asking for racial healing.
December 1, 2000: Troy State University at Montgomery opened The Rosa Parks Library and Museum on the site where Mrs. Parks was arrested; It opened on the 45th Anniversary of her arrest and the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
May 2001: "The Rosa Parks Story" was filmed in Montgomery, Alabama
February 24, 2002: movie aired on CBS
October 29, 2003: She received the Gandhi, King, Ikeda award for peace; International Institute Heritage Hall of fame honoree
February 4, 2004: 91st birthday was celebrated at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
December 21, 2004: the 49th Anniversary of the Mrs. Parks' arrest was commemorated with a Civil Rights and Hip-Hop Forum at the Franklin Settlement in Detroit, Michigan.
February 4, 2005: Mrs. Parks' 92nd birthday was celebrate at Calvary Baptist Church in Detroit, MI. Students from the Detroit Public Schools did "Willing to be Arrested," a reenactment of Mrs. Parks arrest.
February 6, 2005: Mrs. Parks received the first annual Cardinal Dearden Peace Award at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Detroit, MI.
February 19 - 20, composer Hannibal Lokumbe premiered an original symphony "Dear Mrs. Parks." Mr. Lokumbe did this original work as part of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's " Classical Roots Series." The beginning of many events that will commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Mrs. Parks' arrest December 1, 1955.
Mrs. Parks has written four books, Rosa Parks: My Story: by Rosa Parks with Jim Haskins, Quiet Strength by Rosa Parks with Gregory J. Reed, Dear Mrs. Parks: A Dialogue With Today's Youth by Rosa Parks with Gregory J, Reed, this book received the NAACP's Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, (Children's) in 1996 and her latest book, I AM ROSA PARKS by Rosa Parks with Jim Haskins, for preschoolers.

A quiet exemplification of courage, dignity, and determination; Rosa Parks was a symbol to all to remain free. Rosa Parks made her peaceful transition October 24, 2005.




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