National honor, public mythology : the passing of Rosa Parks -- "A life history of being rebellious" : the early years of Rosa McCauley Parks -- "It was very difficult to keep going when all our work seemed to be in vain" : the Civil Rights movement before the Bus Boycott -- "I had been pushed as fas as I could stand to be pushed" : Rosa Parks's bus stand -- "There lived a great people" : the Montgomery Bus Boycott -- "It is fine to be a heroine but the price is high" : the suffering of Rosa Parks -- "The Northern promised land that wasn't" : Rosa Parks and the Black Freedom struggle in Detroit -- "Any move to show we are dissatisfied" : Mrs. Parks in the Black Power era -- "Racism is still alive" : negotiating the politics of being a symbol

The definitive political biography of Rosa Parks examines her six decades of activism, challenging perceptions of her as an accidental actor in the civil rights movement and presenting a corrective to the popular notion of Rosa Parks