Rosa Parks is a fascinating, important subject. Reading her words in her own penmanship is priceless and adds value to an already good book.
Susan Reyburn's book was readable, informative, and should appeal to a wide population.
I loved it!

Outstanding book on an outstanding woman. Ms. Rosa Parks, who we all owe so much. It was an honor to read about this icon in her own words. Historic book. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on my review.

This was a really interesting read, as it gives a peak into the life of Rosa Parks. There were a bunch of photos, as well as some of her own thoughts and writings. It's an engaging book and I think a lot of history lovers would like this book.

It is a great privilege for me to read the words of Rosa Parks in her actual penmanship. This book provides a quick illustration of the legacy of Rosa L. Parks. She bacame instrumental to the success in the civil rights movement in the United States along with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The narrative as well as the images makes a lot of impact on how the story of Rosa Parks unfolded throughout the book.

Rosa Parks was a woman who's actions helped to change the world. She was a wonderful brave woman who did not get enough credit for her actions and her accomplishments. This is a good book and it was well researched.

"There are very few people who can say their actions and conduct changed the face of the nation," said Conyers. "And Rosa Parks is one of those individuals."
-- John Conyers, Jr., U.S. Representative, MI

Born on the 4th of February in 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama, Rosa Louise McCauley Parks lived until the 24th of October in 2006, where she died in Detroit, Michigan. Parks “the first lady of civil rights” is undoubtedly best known for her participation in the Montgomery bus boycott, which began with her refusal to move from her seat in the front of the bus to the back on December 1st of 1955. A statement without saying a word, her refusal was what brought attention to the modern Civil Rights Movement. This book reveals a more personal look at this iconic woman whose phenomenal bravery helped to move the Civil Rights Movement forward. Her private manuscripts and handwritten notes are, have been, housed in the Library of Congress where they have not been available to the public. This book by the Library of Congress brings them to the public with this book that will be released on January 15th 2020.

“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”

This begins with a timeline, beginning with 1909, the year that The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.) is founded in New York City, and ends in 2013, the year a statue of her was unveiled and dedicated in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol, approximately 100 years following her birth, and has the distinction of being the first full-length statue of an African American person located there.

Along with some wonderful photographs, there are small peeks into Parks in her younger years. A somewhat typical young woman, a girl that boys are drawn to for her good looks and charm. We learn another side of her through letters from a friend. I loved this note that ends with a bit of a teasing comment “You say you are only in love with books, but you can’t fool me.” An accomplished young woman, by the age of six, she had begun first grade, completed a quilt, milked cows, worked as a field hand, learned basic cooking skills, and gardening skills, as well as stood by her ”shotgun-wielding grandfather” as the KKK continued trying to destroy everything they touched. Needless to say, playtime was not a big part of her childhood. And then as years passed, the Great Depression hit the country and the adversity increased.

As tensions mounted during the peak of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, she turned to writing as a way to process her thoughts and feelings, which offered her a release from the pervasive negative and positive attention from others, a way to make sense of the times and the hate-filled rhetoric she endured from others. Some of these thoughts are written on scrap paper, paper bags, paper that was easily available to her at the moment.

In addition to her writing, included are some photographs from her life. A photograph of the house where she was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, photographs of her mother and aunt, another of her father, along with a letter he wrote to her in 1950. Other memorabilia includes pages from a family bible, a page from a steno pad on the subject of her early childhood, and much more, including over one hundred black & white photographs including one of her, signed to her cousin when Rosa was around 20 years old. Another photograph of her standing next to a quilt she made in 1949 at the Detroit Historical Museum on their African American Quilt Discovery Day. There is some correspondence to her husband, Raymond Parks, who was active in the fight to put an end to racial injustice.

Over time, Parks went from being “that woman who caused all the trouble” to being referred to as an American patriot, as well as “the mother of the civil rights movement,” and receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 by President Clinton, and perhaps most symbolically meaningful for her was the Lifetime Pass issued to her by the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority in September of 1998.



Pub Date: 15 Jan 2020


Many thanks for the ARC provided by University of Georgia Press

I enjoyed reading Rosa Park's writings in her own handwriting. To me,
it is a treasure to keep her quotes as well. I do believe Rosa Park's fans
will enjoy this one.

Thank you to Susan Reyburn, the Publisher, and Netgalley for the chance
to read this fine book and review it.

This book features images of Rosa Parks’ handwriting. Her handwritten notes give insight into her quiet, thoughtful and every fighting for justice spirit. Between the images, the author gives insight into civil rights initiatives Parks was engaged in throughout her life.

The quotes the author uses in the book are powerful and capture the spirit of Mrs. Parks. One quote that stands out in the book, “I felt that I was lynched many times in mind and spirit. I grew up in a world of white power used most cruelly and cunningly to suppress poor helpless Black people.”

This engaging book will be of interest to those who are history enthusiasts, engaged in human rights and concerned with gender equality. I was gifted an advanced readers copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.