Read Works
Read Works: The Courage to Take Action: A Lesson From Rosa Parks
[Free Registration/Login Required] A speech given by President Barack Obama at a dedication ceremony for a Rosa Parks statue in Washington, D. C. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Read Works
Read Works: Rosa Parks: 100th Birthday
[Free Registration/Login Required] A speech by President Barack Obama proclaiming February 4, 2013 as the 10th Anniversary of the Birth of Rosa Parks. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Read Works
Read Works: The Struggle for Equality
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about heroic African Americans including Rosa Parks, Langston Hughes, Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, and Barbara Jordan. A question sheet is available to help students build...
Read Works
Read Works: The Struggle for Equality
[Free Registration/Login Required] This nonfiction passage gives biographical information about famous African Americans who have worked hard to fight against inequality. This passage reinforces essential reading comprehension skills....
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: Rosa Parks Arrested
This 3-part article explores Rosa Park's famous act of civil disobedience -- refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger. Her subsequent arrest sparked a 381-day boycott of the Montgomery bus system and the 1956 Supreme...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian: Rosa Parks' Arrest Records
Read about the 1955 arrest of Rosa Parks and the impact her arrest had on society, helping to launch the civil rights movement. Includes images of Rosa Parks' original arrest records, now on display at the National Archives in Georgia.
Alabama Humanities Foundation
Encyclopedia of Alabama: Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks is featured in this brief biography for her role in the Civil Rights Movement.
American Rhetoric
American Rhetoric: Jesse Jackson: 1988 Democratic National Convention Address
This is the text and video [5:40] of Jesse Jackson's speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention on July 19, 1988, at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia.
Read Works
Read Works: American Heroes
[Free Registration/Login Required] This Black History resource contains mini-biographical sketches of Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, George Washington Carver, and Marian Anderson. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "Before Rosa Parks, There Was Claudette Colvin" by Margot Adler
Rosa Parks is well-known for her refusal to give up her seat to a white person on a bus in Alabama. A famous bus boycott followed because of her act of protest. However, Parks was not the first person to refuse to give up her seat. In...
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Face to Face: Rosa Parks
This site shares an sculpture of Rosa Parks in her famous stand in Montgomery in a work by Marshall Lumbaugh.
CommonLit
Common Lit: "Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott" by Us history.org
A learning module that begins with "Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott," accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "Rosa Parks: Beyond the Bus" by Barrett Smith
A learning module that begins with "Rosa Parks: Beyond the Bus" by Barrett Smith, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free...
Black Past
Black Past: Abernathy, Ralph
In this encyclopedia entry you can read a brief account of Ralph Abernathy's part in the civil rights movement. There is a link to a website for more information.
abcteach
Abcteach: People
[Free Registration/Login Required] Print worksheets from biographies and autobiographies from famous people such as Sally Ride, Clara Barton, Abraham Lincoln, Francis Scott Key, Alexander the Great and many more.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Read about the action of Rosa Parks who refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, triggering a massive bus boycott led by Martin Luther King, Jr. The boycott became the impetus for a Supreme Court ruling that...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: 300 Women Who Changed History: Rosa Parks
Provides information on Rosa Parks, a "black American civil rights activist" who refused to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man.
Other
Civil Rights Teaching
Online companion to the book "Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching", but many useful resources for any classroom.
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: An Act of Courage: Arrest Records of Rosa Parks
A vividly detailed account of the events that led to the arrest of Rosa Parks for "violating a city law requiring racial segregation of public buses". Provided are copies of documents relating to her arrest that were used as evidence in...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
This lesson introduces students to Rosa Parks and the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. After considering the impact of Ms. Parks' heroism, students will explore its relevance to the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement....
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: Montgomery Bus Boycott
Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks along with other early protestors sparked a yearlong boycott of the Montgomery bus system that culminated in the desegregation of public transportation in Alabama and throughout the country.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Teachers: Meet Rosa Parks
Learn about the life of American civil rights activist Rosa Parks by exploring this insightful biography and timeline of her life. With activity extension for teachers.
Then Again
Then Again: Web Chron: United States of America Chronology: The Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1956
Site provides a short explanation of the Boycott, naming principle players and events.