Parks, Ro‧sa /pɑːks $ pɑːrks, ˈrəʊzə/
(1913–2005) an African-American woman who became famous in 1955 because she refused to give her seat on a bus to a white man. This action was illegal in the US state of Alabama and she was arrested by the police. As a result Martin Luther King persuaded people not to use these buses, and in 1956 the US Supreme Court said that segregation (=keeping black people separate from white people) on buses was not legal. Rosa Parks' action is therefore seen as an important event in the Civil Rights Movement.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲