Rosa Parks: My Story by Rosa Parks Book Review

With one small act of defiance, Rosa Parks changed the course of history. Her story of courage and resilience is well-known and inspiring – but did you know she wrote about it in her autobiography, Rosa Parks: My Story? In this straightforward yet compelling book, Rosa Parks talks candidly about the civil rights movement and her active role in it. Read on to learn more about this inspirational woman’s life!

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Synopsis

Rosa Parks is best known for the day she refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus, sparking the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott. Yet there is much more to her story than this one act of defiance. In this straightforward, compelling autobiography, Rosa Parks talks candidly about the civil rights movement and her active role in it. Her dedication is inspiring; her story is unforgettable.

About The Author

Rosa Parks also worked with Jim Haskins to write Rosa Parks: My Story (Dial and Puffin), an award-winning book for older readers. Mrs. Parks was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in June 1999. She lives in Detroit, Michigan.

My Review

By reading Rosa Parks: My Story, readers get an intimate look into Rosa Park’s life before and after the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She recounts growing up in the south under Jim Crow laws and describes how these laws impacted her day-to-day life. Through her words, we can see how she was able to remain resilient despite the systemic oppression of black people in America at that time.

Rosa Parks also provides insight into her activism within the civil rights movement. She details her involvement with the NAACP and other organizations that were actively working for change during a tumultuous period in American history. This book is an important reminder that even when faced with adversity and injustice, individuals have the power to make a difference in their communities.

In addition to providing an engaging narrative of Rosa Parks’ life, My Story also includes personal photographs from throughout her lifetime. These photos give us a glimpse into who she was as a person, from scenes of everyday family life to powerful images from civil rights demonstrations. Overall, this book does an incredible job of capturing who Rosa Parks was beyond just “the woman who refused to give up her seat on the bus” – it shows us who she really was as a human being.

Famously quoted as saying “People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically, or no more than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me being old. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” this is shown throughout this book pf change over Rosa Parks’s lifetime.

I knew about the famous incident of 1955 where she refused to give up her seat on the bus for a white person, but I didn’t know all of the other things to which she dedicated her life. The civil rights movement, how it actually was in Southern American states as a black person (or a person of colour, no matter how light or dark skinned you appeared to be) I knew their treatment would have been bad through segregation but as a British student I don’t recall learning anything about this at school.   

Overall, Rosa Parks: My Story by Rosa Parks is a heartwarming and inspiring read that leaves readers with a newfound appreciation for what this great woman accomplished during her lifetime – both on behalf of herself and for countless others who suffer from injustice around the world today. If you’re looking for an engaging narrative told through a unique perspective, and a short read, then this book is definitely worth your time!

Rated