Rosa Parks: Activist whose refusal to give up her bus seat ignited the US civil rights movement

Rosa Parks was not just a simple tired soul who happened to sit in the “whites only” section of a bus, though that is the condescending misinterpretation of a woman who was an experienced and respected civil rights campaigner. Sheila Rowbotham, writing Rosa Parks’ obituary in the Guardian, tells the real story behind one of the most important figures in African Americans’ fight for civil rights. ​