Who Was Rosa Parks? by Stephen Marchesi

Who Was Rosa Parks? Reviews

• 
  Mariah Roze

  I love reading the "Who Was..." and "What Was…" books, even as an adult. This story was really interesting and I learned about some people, who I had heard of before, but did not know their complete connection to the civil rights movement.
  
  I was very glad this book talked about Claudette Colvin. She was the first person to not give up her seat on a bus and was beaten and sent to jail for it. Many books about the civil rights period do not talk about her, so it was refreshing to read this one. The reason that she was not the "face" of the civil rights bus movement was because she was a 15-old-girl that was pregnant. Nixon, who was helping with the civil rights movement, thought Rosa would be a much better fit. (Learning about Nixon was new information for me). Nixon went around to all the black churches and encouraged them to tell their members to not ride the busses anymore until the movement is over.
  
  Another person I learned about was Eleanor Roosevelt. I had no idea that she was involved in the civil rights movement.
  
  And lastly, I have read a ton of books on Rosa Parks (most picture books, because I'm a teacher) so I didn't learn a lot of new information on her. However, I did find it fascinating that she didn't 100% agree with the movement that Martin Luther King Jr. was doing. He believed in absolutely no violence, but Rosa herself believed that black people should be able to stand up for themselves. She agreed with Malcolm X's way (some violence is necessary) over King's. I also learned that after the civil rights bus movement she moved to Detroit, because no one would hire her and her husband. She stayed in Detroit till she passed away and was buried there.
• 
  Janete on hiatus due health issues

  An outstanding and brave woman. This children's book is part of the project to learning English by myself.
• 
  Montzalee Wittmann

  Well done!
  
  Who was Rosa Parks?
  This is a terrific book with just about everything you would want to know about this wonderful driven woman! I must say I learned a thing or two! It takes you back to her childhood on up. Excellent!
• 
  Matt

  The story is about Rosa Parks who was a big spark in the multi-race revolution. She was a courages person who took her freedom and brought it out! Her disobeying these unfair laws was just outstanding! I say that I recommend this to people who love freedom.
• 
  Diana

  Who Was Rosa Parks? [2010] - ★★★★1/2
  
  "...a bus seat may seem like a little thing. But it wasn't. It represented something big" [McDonough, 2010: 47].
  
  Rosa Parks was an American activist known for her involvement in the civil rights movement, in particular, in the Montgomery bus boycott. She is famous for saying "no" to a demand to give her seat to a white passenger on a bus in 1955. Her quiet courage which led to big changes won the world's admiration. This children's book with illustrations starts by talking about Rosa as a small child living in segregated Alabama and then moves on to talk about Rosa changing various schools and finally becoming a secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP), as well as "one of few women in the civil rights movement" [2010: 36] at that time. I liked the fact that the book talked about Claudette Colvin too, a fifteen year old girl, who refused to give her seat to one white passenger months before Parks's refusal, but she never made any headlines. The book explains such concepts as Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow Laws to older children/young teenagers, and emphasises the extent of the control exercised over black people's lives at that time, as well as the inherent injustice implicit in the rules governing bus conduct and seating arrangements in the 1950s Alabama. Unfortunately, the book is also presented a bit chaotically, opening with the introductory section on who Rosa Parks was and not telling about her achievements at all. There are also some strange assumptions how Parks must have felt at certain moments, and the book talks about the Brown vs Board of Education decision of 1954 when Parks was only about 12 and living in the year 1925. Overall, though, Who Was Rosa Parks is a good book. It conveys clearly the message that a big change always begins with one small step and no one is too small or insignificant to make a difference.
• 
  Madissen

  I like this book because it taught me how it was when Rosa Parks was alive about the buses and more.
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  Sophie Crane

  Rosa Parks was your average African-American Woman until one Day She Refused to Give up her Seat for a White Man, Sparking a Revolution that is Still Ongoing Even Today!
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  Joey Oborne

  I did not know a thing about Rosa Parks, I learned that she did not give up her seat and she said not to a white person so she had to got to jail but then other people helped her out of jail. I think of Rosa of Martin Luther King Jr because they wanted the same thing FREEDOM and they worked to getter and not blacks and whites can do the same things for an example ( E.X) back then black and white students can not go to the same school but not all because of Martin Luther King Jr blacks and whites get along and they can go to the same school and do the same stuff.
• 
  Pumkin pie

  Very interesting. A little scary though.
• 
  bts lover

  I liked the book because Rosa Parks helped end segregation.
  Ppp
• 
  Wade

  Rosa Parks grew up in a time when black and white children (and adults) were not treated the same. Lily and Wade are inspired by her lifelong courage to work for more fairness in the world. This book taught us about a lot of new big words like segregation, equality, racism, prejudice, civil rights, boycott, protest, fairness, unconstitutional, and nonviolence.
  
  Rosa understood how important it was for everyone to vote, but before 1965 there were laws that made it very difficult for most black people to do so. She worked very hard to change this. We learned about the NAACP and about important civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and W.E.B. Dubois. We think it was amazing that more than 200,000 people attended the Civil Rights March and I Have a Dream Speech in Washington DC in 1963.
  
  Rosa is most famous for refusing to give up her seat on a bus, an event that put her in jail. She is a heroine for being so courageous during this time, and especially during the Montgomery Bus Boycott that followed.
  
  Rosa received many awards and medals from all over the world for her work. Lily feels a special connection because she was born the same year that Rosa died.
• 
  Natalie

  Great series!
  
  Everyone knows the famous bus scene of Rosa Parks life, but I enjoyed reading the other bits - how she pushed a boy who tried to run her off the sidewalk, how she took care of her mother, how she donated time to the NAACP, how she worked for a US senator - so many interesting tidbits.
  
  The only thing that dinged a star was because there were WAY too many aside pages. It’s nice to have a few, but there were so many in this book it interrupted the flow.
• 
  Sarah Hayes

  This book is upsetting because it talks about the separation of blacks and whites. So in this book Rosa didn't get a free ride to change history she had to work for it and prove that it took heart and strength to get where she is now. So Rosa always was upset about how they had to be doing different thing then whites like separated bathrooms, restaurants and even water fountains. And this made Rosa upset so for years and years she wanted to change the would so whites and black can have equal rights. So Rosa one day went onto the bus as usual and sat down but not in the back but in the very front. And the driver started to yell at her and to get up but Rosa refused to do so. So the bus driver called the police and Rosa go arrested. But all that mattered was that she was proving a point that blacks matter as much as whites do. So if you like books that are upsetting then this book would be just right for you.
• 
  David

  Rosa Parks was so much more than the lady known for being arrested for not giving up her bus seat precipitating the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. She had come through the segregated school system and, after graduating high school, she became involved in civil rights issues. In Who Was Rosa Parks? by Yona Zeldis McDonough the author presents more about Rosa Parks than the bus episode. In fact, there was another person who did this before Rosa Parks but the people who wanted to boycott the city bus system decided not to use her as the face of the protest because she was only 15 and pregnant. Many other facts and interesting back stories are also included in the book.
• 
  Laurie B

  This entry into the popular Who Was? series provides a quick, but comprehensive look at Rosa Parks' life and her contributions to civil rights that extend beyond the famous bus incident. There's also a lot of other information about the time period, segregation, and other civil rights leaders, so it gives a good overall picture for readers just learning about all this. The book also does a good job of demonstrating how one person, through brave, yet simple actions and quiet strength can change the world.
• 
  Christina

  Very informative.
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  Sabrina Bain

  Very informative, wished it was in color only problem
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  Monica Moyes

  I couldn’t get my kids interested in the book. There’s good content in it for sure but they just couldn’t get into it like the MLK book. I’m sure that’s more to do with them than the book. Rosa Park was amazing.
• 
  Tracy

  Great children's history book on this courageous woman!
• 
  Jen

  I really enjoy listening to audiobooks in this series. They are short, but informative! I read this bio of Rosa Parks in preparation for a trip to Montgomery in a few months.
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  Heather Shembarger

  Do not let the fact that this is a quick read make you feel that it won't be packed full of information. This biography is indeed very informative on this extraordinary lady, Rosa Parks. This book does pull a lot from Rosa Park's own autobiography, Rosa Parks: My Story. It not only introduces you to Rosa Parks and her life, but it exposes the reader to other key historical events and figures relating to the civil rights movement. One interesting fact that I had not realized from previous reads on Rosa Park's life was that her husband actually quit the NAACP because he felt leaders did not truly understand the working class black man. However, during that same year, he did not stop his own wife from joining the same organization and actually putting in endless volunteer hours as the secretary of the NAACP of Montgomery. This book is totally a must read.
• 
  Ryan

  Great book, awesome person.
• 
  Max Miramontes

  I believe the biography, Who Was Rosa Parks?, by Yona Zeldis McDonough is a good book out of the Who Was/Who Is series because it gives a lot of information about Rosa Parks and her childhood, and how she had influenced people in many ways. I liked this book a lot also because it gave me a lot of information on how she was recognized for her bus incident. I would rate this book a higher rating than just 4 stars, but I believe that 4 stars right now fits right. I would recommend this book to anyone who like biographies and whoever likes to learn about influencers and about their past lives.