Rosa Parks Day is a holiday in honor of the civil rights leader

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American civil rights activist. She is best known for her refusal to move from her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, in defiance of Jim Crow laws, which sparke ...

, celebrated in the U.S. states of

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

and

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

on her birthday, February 4, in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

on the first Monday after her birthday, and in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

and several cities and counties on the day she was arrested, December 1. Rosa Parks Day was created by the Michigan State Legislature and first celebrated in 1998. The California State Legislature followed suit in 2000. The holiday was first designated in the U.S. state of

championed by Joyce Beatty, advocate who helped Ohio's legislation pass to honor the late leader. It is also celebrated by the Columbus Ohio bus system (COTA) with a special tribute to the late civil rights leader. As of 2014, Missouri Governor

Jay Nixon Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon (born February 13, 1956) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the List of governors of Missouri, 55th governor of Missouri from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

proclaimed Rosa Parks Day official in the state. In 2014, Oregon governor John Kitzhaber declared that Oregon would celebrate its first Rosa Parks Day. In 2021, the Texas Legislature passed HB 3481, recognizing December 1 as Rosa Parks Day in the state. On January 8, 2025, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey Signed Bill H.3075 setting aside February 4 as an annual recognition for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. After

Juneteenth Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States, federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the End of slavery in the United States, ending of slavery in the United States. The holiday's n ...

became a federal holiday, there are growing calls for this day to also be observed at the federal level. On September 3, 2021, HR 5111 proposes that this day be added to the list of federal holidays.

Observances by state

Observances by cities and counties

Origins

(February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was a

seamstress A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician. Notable d ...

by profession; she was also the secretary for the Montgomery chapter of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

. Twelve years before her history-making arrest, Parks was stopped from boarding a city bus by driver James F. Blake, who ordered her to board at the back door and then drove off without her. Parks vowed never again to ride a bus driven by Blake. As a member of the NAACP, Parks was an investigator assigned to cases of sexual assault. In 1945, she was sent to Abbeville, Alabama, to investigate the gang rape of Recy Taylor. The protest that arose around the Taylor case was the first instance of a nationwide civil rights protest, and it laid the groundwork for the Montgomery bus boycott. In 1955, Parks completed a course in "Race Relations" at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee where

nonviolent Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

had been discussed as a tactic. On December 1, 1955, Parks was sitting in the frontmost row for black people. When a Caucasian man boarded the bus, the bus driver told everyone in her row to move back. At that moment, Parks realized that she was again on a bus driven by Blake. While all of the other black people in her row complied, Parks refused, and was arrested for failing to obey the driver's seat assignments, as city ordinances did not explicitly mandate segregation but did give the bus driver authority to assign seats. Found guilty on December 5, Parks was fined $10 plus a court cost of $4,'''' but she appealed. Parks' action gained notoriety leading to the

Montgomery bus boycott The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social boycott, protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a foundational event in the civil rights movement in the United ...

, which was a seminal event in the civil rights movement, and was a political and social

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

campaign against the policy of

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

on the public transit system of Montgomery,

. The campaign lasted from December 1, 1955, to December 20, 1956, when a federal ruling, '' Browder v. Gayle'', took effect, and led to a United States Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses to be unconstitutional."Montgomery Bus Boycott (Dec 5, 1955 — Dec 21, 1956)"
~ Civil Rights Movement Archive Many important figures in the civil rights movement took part in the boycott, including Reverend

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

and

Ralph Abernathy Ralph David Abernathy Sr. (; March 11, 1926 – April 17, 1990) was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was ordained in the Baptist tradition in 1948. Being the leader of the civil rights movement, he was a close frien ...

. The 381-day boycott almost bankrupted the bus company and effectively made segregation in buses unconstitutional and illegal.

References

{{Federal holidays in the United States Birthdays by person December observances February observances Public holidays in the United States State holidays in the United States Monuments and memorials to Rosa Parks 1998 establishments in Michigan Post–civil rights era in African-American history

Observances by state

Observances by cities and counties

Origins

See also

References