Feb. 4, 1913: Civil rights icon Rosa Park is born

On this day in 1913 Rosa Louise McCauley (Parks) is born in Tuskegee, Alabama.

In 1955, she will become a civil rights icon after her refusal to yield her seat on a public bus so that a white passenger could sit there. Parks will later move to Detroit and work as an assistant to Congressman John Conyers, Jr.

In 1976, the City of Detroit will rename 12th Street in her honor.

  Alabama, civil rights, John Conyers, Rosa Parks

Ken Coleman

Ken Coleman, the author of On this Day: African-American Life in Detroit, is a native Detroiter and former news reporter. He served on the Detroit Charter Revision Commission. He lives in Detroit with his wife, Kim Trent, and their son, Jackson Coleman.

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