Honorary Awards
Throughout Rosa's life, she had won many awards and medals. The NAACP awarded Rosa with the Spingarn Medal in 1979. This was their highest honor. One year later she had been given the Martin Luther King Jr Award. In September of 1992, Rosa Parks had the honor of winning the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience award. It was rightfully awarded to Rosa for her years of community service and lifelong commitment to social change through non-violent means and civil rights. In the year 1996, Rosa was presented, by President Bill Clinton, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is the highest honor that can be given to a civilian by the United States Government. The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center presented Rosa Parks with the International Freedom Conductor Award in 1998. In 1999, Parks was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal. Later that same year, she was awarded with the Detroit-Windsor International Freedom Festival Freedom Award. The State of Alabama awarded Rosa Parks the Governor's Medal of Honor for Extraordinary Courage in 2000. She also received the Alabama Academy Award the same year. During her life, Rosa was awarded with more than two dozen honorary doctorates from universities worldwide.
So many accomplishments!
Aside from winning all of thoses honoring awards, she accomplished many amazing things that no one thought a black person would ever achieve. In 1983, Rosa Parks was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. In 1990, Rosa Parks had the honor of being part of the welcoming party for a man named Nelson Mandela who had been recently a prisoner in South Africa. Throughout her life she published two books. The first one, My Story, was written in 1992. It was about her life leading up to the bus incident. A few years later, she published another called Quiet Strong, told about her faith and how it helped her through her journey of life. In 1999, Time Magazine named Rosa Parks one of the top 20 most powerful and influential figures of the century.
Along with Elaine Eason Steel, Rosa started the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in February of 1987. This institute was established in honor of her husband Raymond. He had died of cancer in 1977. The Institute's main point is to run the "Pathways to Freedom" bus tours. These buses take young people around the country to visit historical sites along the Underground Railroad and to important locations of events in Civil Rights history. Unfortunatley Rosa died in October 2005 of dimentia. Rosa Parks has made such an impact on our society and will always be remembered in American history.
Along with Elaine Eason Steel, Rosa started the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in February of 1987. This institute was established in honor of her husband Raymond. He had died of cancer in 1977. The Institute's main point is to run the "Pathways to Freedom" bus tours. These buses take young people around the country to visit historical sites along the Underground Railroad and to important locations of events in Civil Rights history. Unfortunatley Rosa died in October 2005 of dimentia. Rosa Parks has made such an impact on our society and will always be remembered in American history.
