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Title: Rosa L. Parks Collection Type : Papers, Dates: 1955‑1976 Size : 2 linear feet, 2 oversize boxes ID #: 775 OCLC: ©Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs |
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Scope & Contents
Rosa Parks was born to James and Leona MacCauley on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her parents, a builder and a teacher who worked as a seamstress, were separated by the time she was seven years old. During her childhood, she and her younger brother Sylvester often worked with their grandparents, former slaves, Sylvester and Rose Edwards, as pickers on a nearby farm. At age eleven she moved to Montgomery to live with an aunt and attend the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls. She dropped out of high school when her mother became ill, and worked at various jobs. She married Raymond Parks in 1932,
After her marriage, Mrs. Parks finished high school, and also attended classes at Alabama State University. From 1943 to 1955 she was the secretary of the Montgomery NAACP, and worked with E. D. Nixon to encourage blacks to register and vote. In 1948 she served as state secretary of the Alabama NAACP.
It was in December 1955, when Mrs. Parks was working as a seamstress in a
local department store, that the well‑known bus confrontation occurred. She was riding home after work on December 1st, when she and three other blacks were asked to rise and move to the back of the bus to give their places to a white rider. Mrs. Parks refused to move, and was subsequently arrested. Young Martin Luther King, Jr., then a new minister at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, led the year‑long bus boycott which followed. It ended on December 21, 1956, when a Supreme Court decision ruling bus segregation unconstitutional became effective. As a result of this incident, Mrs. Parks is often called the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.
Because of stress and illness, Rosa Parks and her mother and husband moved to Detroit in 1957. She again worked as a seamstress until joining the staff of newly‑elected Congressman John Conyers in 1965. In addition to her work for Conyers, Mrs. Parks has dedicated herself to numerous church, community and civil rights activities. She was recognized for her contributions when she was made an honorary Doctor of Humanities by Shaw College in 1971, and again in 1975, when she received a similar degree from Wayne State University. In 1976, 12th Street in Detroit was renamed "Rosa L. Parks Boulevard." The Southern Christian Leadership Conference annually gives a Rosa Parks Freedom Award. In January, 1980, Mrs. Parks was the recipient of a Martin Luther King, Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize.
The papers of Rosa L. Parks were placed in the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs on July 14, 1976.
Four pamphlets relating to civil liberties or civil rights have been placed in the Archives Library.
4 manuscript boxes
2 oversize boxes
Series I, Correspondence and Papers, 1954‑1976; Box 1:
Awards,
correspondence, invitations, programs, a manuscript fragment and some clippings
and other items containing biographical information about Mrs. Parks. To Series 1
Series II, Organizations and Activities, 1955‑1976, Boxes 2-4:
An
alphabetical series of materials relating to organizations with which Mrs.
Parks has been associated, activities in which she participated or has been
interested and people with whose activities or careers she has been concerned. To Series 2
Clippings,
1955-1976, Oversize Box 1:
Clippings,
primarily from the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit News, and the Michigan
Chronicle
Newspapers/Newsletters,
1965-1976, Oversize Box 2:
Issues of various newspapers of community and religious organizations, and from Alabama.
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[Box1] [Box2] [Box3] [Box4] [Oversize 1-Box5] [Oversize 2-Box6] |
Correspondence and
Papers, 1954‑1976
Box 1
Awards, correspondence, invitations, programs, a manuscript
fragment and some clippings and other items containing biographical information
about Mrs. Parks and about her role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955‑1956.
1. Rosa Parks, Biographical Information
2. Rosa Parks, Clippings
3. Awards, 1954‑1973
4. Birthday Cards, Undated
5. Correspondence, 1956‑1960
6. Correspondence, 1961‑1970
7. Correspondence, 1971‑1972
8. Correspondence, 1973
9. Correspondence, 1974
10. Correspondence, 1975
11. Correspondence, 1976
12. Correspondence, Undated
13. Invitations, 1966‑1976
14. Ms. Fragment: "Some Homework for
Southerners"
15 Programs, 1959‑1969
16. Programs, 1970‑1972
17. Programs, 1973‑1976
Organizations and
Activities, 1955‑1976
Boxes 2‑4
An alphabetical series of materials relating to
organizations with which Mrs. Parks has been associated, activities in which
she participated or has been interested, and people with whose activities or
careers she has been concerned. The
materials especially reflect her involvement with church and community groups
and with the civil rights, human rights and women's movements.
1. African Methodist
Episcopal Churches, 1961‑1969
2. African Methodist
Episcopal Churches, 1970‑1975
3. Afrikan History
Club No. 2; Newsletter, 1974‑1975
4. American Friends
Service Committee, 1956‑1975
5. American Friends
Service Committee; "Quaker Service Bulletin,"
1972-1975
6. American Friends
Service Committee; "Speak Truth to Power," 1955
7. Black Women's
Community Development Foundation; "Binding Ties,"
Jan
and May, 1974
8. Chisolm, Shirley;
Speech notes
9. Church
Activities, 1956‑1976
10. Civil Rights
Activities, 1957‑1976
11. Conyers, John, 1966‑1976
12. Frederick, Helen
Burleson, 1974
13. Freedom Now Party,
1964-1965
14. Full Employment Action
Council; Research Paper #1
15. Greater Opportunities
Industrialization Center, 1974‑1975
16. Henderson, Erma L.,
1972‑1974
17. Highlander Folk School,
1957‑1975
18. Highlander Folk School,
Meeting, 1955
19. International Afro‑American
Museum, Inc., 1967‑1973
1. Joanne Little
Defense Committee; Minutes and Membership List,
1975
2. King, Coretta
Scott; autographed magazine, January 1966
3. Labor Materials,
1955‑1971
4. Martin Luther
King Jr., Center for Social Change, 1972‑1976
5. NAACP, 1952‑1965
6. NAACP, 1970‑1975
7. NAACP; Crisis,
1967‑1969
8. "NAACP
Reporter," Nov‑Dec 1971 and Apr‑Jun 1973
9. National
Conference (4th) on the Problem of Working Women, May
1956
10. National Council of
Negro Women, 1955
11. Neighborhood and
Community Activities, 1959‑1976
12. Political Education
Project (PEP), c. 1967
13. Politics, Detroit,
1970-1976
14. Prayer Pilgrimage for
Freedom, 1957
15. PUSH Foundation, 1975
1. "Scenic
Wonders of Dixieland"; Guidebook, 1940
2. "1776"
Playbill, 1969
3. Shaw College,
1971‑1976
4. Southern
Christian Leadership Conference, 1962‑1965
5. Southern
Christian Leadership Conference, 1971‑1975
6. Southern
Christian Leadership Conference; "Drum Major," Aug 1971
7. Southern Christian
Leadership Conference; "Soul Force," 1968‑1972
8. United Community
Services of Metropolitan Detroit, 1973
9. Urban Alliance,
1973‑1975
10. Urban Forum (Michigan
State University), 1973‑1974
11. Vaughn, Jackie III,
1968‑1972
12. Vietnam; Anti‑War
Materials, 1972‑1975
13. Women's Conference of
Concerns, 1974‑1975
14. Women's Activities and
Organizations, 1964, 1972‑1976
15. Women's International
League for Peace and Freedom, 1968‑1976
16. Women's Public Affairs
Committee of 1000, Inc., 1964‑1969
17. Women's Public Affairs Committee of 1000, Inc., 1971‑1975
Clippings,
1955-1976
Clippings, primarily from the Detroit Free Press, the
Detroit News, and the Michigan Chronicle.
Clippings,
1955-1976, n.d.
Calendar
(Detroit Metro Mutual Assurance Co.), 1958
Newspapers/Newsletters,
1965-1976
Issues of newspapers and newsletters published by various
community and religious organizations.
Birmingham
World, Dec 1974‑Apr 1976
Black‑Polish
Conference Newsletter, 1972‑1973
Detroit
Community Voice, 1973
For
My People," 1973‑1976
The
Ghetto Speaks, 1968
INFO,
1966
Michigan
Democrat, 1973, 1975
The
Militant, 1965
News
and Letters, Aug and Sep 1966, Dec 1975
The
Southern Patriot, Feb 1967‑Sep 1975
The
Spirit of Detroit, 23 Jun 1975, 28 Jul 1975
Miscellaneous
Newspapers, A‑D
Miscellaneous
Newspapers, E‑0
Miscellaneous Newspapers, P‑V
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Containers-end Containers
Abernathy, Ralph, 4:4-5
AME Churches, 2:1‑2
Civil Rights, throughout collection
Conyers, John, 2:11
Davis, Angela, 2:10
Henderson, Erma, 2:16
Jackson, Jessie, 3:15
King, Coretta Scott, 3:2, 3:4
Parks, Rosa, 1:1‑2; Clippings 12 May 1974
Vaughn, Jackie III, 4:11
Young, Coleman, 3:13, 4:10; Clippings, 1973; Detroit Community Voice, 1973
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