Sitting Down to Take a Stand: Rosa Parks' Actions Advanced the Fight for Civil Rights

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Known as the "mother of the modern-day civil rights movement," Rosa Parks was influenced by her family members' strength, faith in God and belief in racial equality. Born Rosa Louise McCauley on Feb. 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Ala., Parks eventually set in motion the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the largest and most successful nonviolent protests in history.

"As a child, I learned from the Bible to trust in God and not be afraid."

When Rosa was just a toddler, her parents separated and she and her mother moved to Pine Level, Ala., to live with her grandparents, Sylvester

and Rose Edwards. The Edwards were former slaves and strong advocates for civil rights, which made them targets of the local Ku Klux Klan. Parks recalled nights when the KKK would march down the street outside the family's house. "My grandfather never seemed afraid," Parks wrote in her book Quiet Strength: The Faith, the Hope, and the Heart of a Woman Who Changed a Nation. "At night he would sit with his shotgun and say that he did not know how long he would …