If you get a chance to head to the Library of Congress, make sure you take time to visit an incredible exhibition commemorating the American icon, Rosa Parks.
Of course you know Parks for her history-altering decision on December 1, 1955 to refuse to give up her seat to a white man on a crowded bus in segregated Montgomery, Alabama. Her arrest launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott that was a turning point for the civil rights movement, but her courageous act of civil disobedience brought on death threats, job loss, and financial hardship.
But Parks is often portrayed a tired seamstress who that night was swept up into a movement because of physical fatigue; when in reality, she was a seasoned activist, a force, and a role model.
In the 1930s she organized to free the Scottsboro Boys, and a decade later worked with the NAACP and Brothers of Sleeping Car Porters.
The exhibit, Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words brings together pieces from the Rosa Parks Collection that illuminate her life of activism as well as her every day life. From family photos, to her family bible, it would be hard to leave this showcase without a deeper understanding of an American hero.
For more information visit the Library of Congress website here.