Feb. 1, 2018 – On the last page of Douglas Brinkley’s biography of Rosa Parks – Rosa Parks: A Life – he tells his readers Rosa thought all Americans should read three autobiographies. These three books were important to Rosa in shaping her worldview. What a wonderful way to honor Black History Month by following Rosa’s advice and reading Dr. Brinkley’s book and those Rosa recommended.

    Rosa Parks: A Life, a biography of Rosa Parks, was written by Dr. Douglas Brinkley and published in 2000. He interviewed Rosa for the book. (Photo of book: Student News Net)

Dr. Brinkley spent two years at the end of the 1990s researching, reading, and interviewing before putting pen to paper or in modern vernacular, keystrokes to RAM. Penguin Books published the biography in 2000. Rosa was still alive to see the book published. What a thrill it must have been for her to know her story was being disseminated to people around the world. She was very humble so that thrill was not a selfish one; rather it was the realization that her lifelong activism fighting for freedom and equal rights for all people would serve as an inspiration to others.

Rosa Parks was born in 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama where Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) had founded the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. The school for African Americans opened on July 4, 1881. It is now Tuskegee University.

Rosa moved to Montgomery, Alabama while she was very young but the life of Booker T. Washington had a significant impact on Rosa. His autobiography – Up From Slavery – is one of the three autobiographies she recommended all Americans read.

Rosa passed away on Oct. 24, 2005.

Rosa Parks died on Oct. 24, 2005. In her honor, the Henry Ford museum moved the bus, the bus where on Dec. 1, 1955, she sat in her seat to stand up for civil rights, to the Charles Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit for a memorial service. (Photo: Student News Net)

Day of Courage – Feb. 4, 2013 at the Henry Ford
On Feb. 4, 2013, the Centennial of her birth, a Day of Courage was held at the Henry Ford in Dearborn, Mich.,, the museum where the Rosa Parks bus anchors their “With Liberty and Justice for All” exhibit. The exhibit traces the history of civil rights from the birth of the nation and the Declaration of Independence through the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and beyond.

Dr. Brinkley was a keynote speaker at the 2013 Day of Courage. Student News Net was there. The following is an excerpt from the Student News Net Feb. 5, 2013 story about the inspirational Centennial celebration.

Redwood Learn excerpt from Feb. 5, 2013 story on the Day of Courage honoring Rosa Parks
Douglas Brinkley, author of Rosa Parks: A Life, spoke in the afternoon. He wanted the audience to know a few things about Rosa Parks. First and foremost, Brinkley said Rosa Parks stressed she was not just African American but an American with Scottish-Irish and Cherokee Indian ancestors. The Civil Rights Movement was a movement for everyone. Second, Brinkley said she was devoted to Christ and her church, attending church every Sunday. Third, although she did not have children, she had a deep love for children. Fourth, she loved Booker T. Washington, an African American educator who built industrial schools, for boys and girls, in the South. Fifth, in her later life, she studied the underground railroad. Sixth, she had a deep friendship with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and admired his ability to resist violence even after being punched in the face. Rosa was with King in Birmingham in the 1960s when he was punched in the face. Rosa gave him aspirin and a soft drink, indignant at the violence against King. “She was not passive,” Brinkley said. Seventh, she loved her husband Raymond who was also an activist. Rosa included him in her work and achievements, Brinkley explained.

“Her heart knew no bounds for the love she had for all of us,” Brinkley said as he concluded his remarks at the Rosa Parks National Day of Courage.

W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963)
Rosa also recommended every American read the autobiography of W.E.B. Du Bois (The Souls of Black Folk). He was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. He spent his life advocating for African American equal rights. He disagreed somewhat with how Booker T. Washington structured the Tuskegee Institute with Washington’s emphasis on vocational education. Washington believed if black men and women had vital skills, the color of their skin would not stand in their way of success. While Du Bois thought men and women needed to learn skills, some were destined to become thought leaders of the day with advanced degrees from universities. Merely graduating from Washington’s vocational school would Word of the Day restrain their potential and most important, would reinforce the stereotype of the population, Du Bois believed.

Third autobiography
The third autobiography Rosa recommended was The Autobiography of an ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson, published in the early 1900s and then again in 1927. It is more of a novel than an autobiography as the author draws from various people and experiences to tell his story. His mother was black and his father white so he grew up trying to reconcile and live within those two very different worlds. The book tells that compelling story.