Hello, my name is Rosa Parks. I grew up in Tuskegee Alabama. I was born February 4th, 1913. When I was younger I was ill much of the time so I was a very small child. I was two years old when my parents separated. My mom took me and my brother and we moved to pine level, a small town in Montgomery Alabama. I spent the rest of my youth on my grandparent's farm. The farm smelt like freshly cut summer straw in the field and the scent of fresh strawberries and bright healthy grass but some parts were filled with the smell of manure.

 It smells like old rotten eggs. I was home-schooled by my mother. I often got to cuddle with my mama. She smelled like rose petal perfume, sweet and pink. I didn't attend public school until the age of eleven.I took various vocational and academic courses. I went to laboratory school for my secondary education but I didn't get to finish it because I needed to help take care of my ill grandmother while growing up I experienced lots of racism we had to use different bathrooms, water fountains, and different transportation the bathroom were never clean the smell would make me gag it smelled like a mix of human feces and old smelly clothes that hadden been wash in over a year the water was barely running the water fountains were filled with reddish brown rust that took up half the water fountain. Soon blacks were allowed to ride the same bus as whites as long as they rode in the back. I never understood why we were considered different from white folk.   I often rode the bus with Mama. It was always a smooth and easy ride. I am now 42 years old and I've been married to my husband since I was 19 years old we love each other but I want to tell yall the story of the day I was brave enough to sit in the front of the bus .so on December 1, 1955, I woke up ready to go to work and got out of bed brushed my teeth, washed my face and got dressed I put my shoes on grabbed my purse. I said goodbye to my husband and headed for the bus stop. I had to walk 30 minutes to get to the bus stop. i stood at the bus stop for about 20 minutes before it arrive the white people have to get on first and the black people last .it so unfair when i got on instead of going to the back i set up front i set up front the bus driver told be to get  for this white man i refused he told me if i don't get up he would call the cops i soon knew this site wouldn't be pretty the driver said  “are you going to stand up?” he said it with a demanded face i look him dead in the face  and ”NO!” he look like he didn't know what to do he replied and said “Well i'm going to have to you arrested  i turned my head towards the window and i replied softly “you may do that” i continued to refuse and 2 police officers entered the bus and put me in handcuffs and took me to the station there at the station i asked for a drink of water they said no  they let me get one phone call home  my mother was terrified when she heard that i had been arrested  she was yelling on the phone worried that i had been beaten she said “said rosa sweetie are you ok” i said “yes mama” she replied “what were you thinking , sitting in the front of the bus “i said “mama i want to make a difference i'm tired of being treated differently someone is going to have to stand up to them one day mama”  my husband raymond promised to come get her right away  but she was saying that she knew it would take a while  because he  didn't have a car and he needed to find bail bondsmen .while i was in the jail cell a horrible smell was choking me it smell like sweaty socks and human feces   i started a conversation with my cell mates she had beautiful dark skinned complexion she had been in jail for two whole months i asked her why  she said “i  picked up a hatchet against my  boyfriend’s to defend myself because i was tired of the abuse “ but she was unable to let her family know where she was i promised her i would tried to help her get in touch with her family i felt so bad for her the first thing i did the morning after i went to jail was call the numbers the women had written down . I ended up reaching the woman's brother. At about 9:30 p.m. a medium-tall man with brown spiral-shaped curls.his name was E.D. Nixon .He bailed me out. I looked up and I saw a tall black figure show in the distance he got close and close I released it was my husband behind him I was so happy to see him and give him a big hug he smelled too good like cologne that was made by the salesman at the store. we all wen tback to my apartment to talk over the next steps  nixon said that he saw this as a bigger opportunity to challenge segregation.and also giving me a reputation in the community and my bravery and ability  to stand up uder pressure would inspire others he thought that i could be ans important test case  to challenge bus segregation my husband said he didnt really like the idea at firat  he said that he worried for out family’s safety and als that the community wouldnt stick behind us butlater that night after talking with mymother and my husband i decided to proceed with the case to try to make a difference  i called a young black lawyer  he wa sapart of the NAACP he name was fred gray when i first contacted him i said “hello this is rosa parks and i was arrested for not getting up from the front of the bus and i would like if you represent me in my court case “ he agreed to represent me in  court  after he talked to me herdecided to cal this lady nae s jo ann robinson she was the hed of the womens political council thats the organization that decided to call for a boycott on that when i was set to be arraigned in court in the middle  of the night In the middle of the night,  Robinson, who was a professor at Alabama State College, snuck into the college and, with the help of two students and a colleague who let her into the mimeograph room, ran off thousands of leaflets reading “Another woman has been arrested on the bus…If we do not do something to stop these arrests, they will continue. they asked all black folk to stay off the busses on that Monday because of the protest of the arrest and trial the were reporters at the courthouse they were asking me “How do you feel about the day of the incident “I replied, the day was gratifying and unbelievable. All of the black people stayed off the buses. people were willing to make a sacrifice to let it be known that they would be far from this oppression.the streets outside the courthouse were clogged with people so was the courtroom I was so surprised that all those people showed up because black people tend to stay away from court house they had as much braveness as I had the day of the incident.we entered the courtroom and I was charged with a violation of city law. My lawyer objected but the judge okayed it.I lost my job five weeks later. My husband also lost his job.It was so hard to find steady work again. I spent the rest of the year traveling to raise attention and funds for the movement at home. Towards the end of the year, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the US district court's historic June decision finding Montgomery bus segregation unconstitutional on December 20, 1956 Montgomery’s buses were desegregated. I felt so relieved and I felt more at peace. I lived the rest of my life quietly in Detroit.