Raymond Parks (activist)

Raymond Arthur Parks (February 12, 1903 – August 19, 1977) was an American activist in the civil rights movement and barber, best known as the husband of Rosa Parks.[1][2] His wife called him "the first real activist I ever met.”[3]

For other uses, see Raymond Parks.

Raymond Parks
Raymond Parks in 1933
Born
Raymond Parks

(1903-02-12)February 12, 1903
Wedowee, Alabama, U.S.
DiedAugust 19, 1977(1977-08-19) (aged 74)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Resting placeWoodlawn Cemetery, Detroit
Occupation(s)Civil rights activist, barber
MovementCivil Rights Movement
SpouseRosa Parks (m. 1932)

Life and work

Parks was born in 1903 in Wedowee, Alabama, the son of David Parks and Geri Culbertson. He did not receive a formal education as there was no nearby black school where he lived.[1] He taught himself to read with the help of his mother and had an appreciation for poetry.[4] Parks spent much of his childhood caring for ill family members and was orphaned as a teenager.[1]

Parks worked as a barber in Tuskegee, Montgomery, Maxwell Air Force Base, Hampton, Virginia, and Detroit, Michigan.[5][6][7]

Civil rights activism

Parks was politically active, a member of the League of Women Voters, and active member of the NAACP.[8][9] He was involved in leading the national pledge drive in support of the legal defense of the Scottsboro Boys, a group of nine young Black men falsely accused of raping two White women.[10][11] Parks was also a charter member of the Montgomery NAACP and was heavily involved in the Montgomery labor rights movement, supporting efforts to unionize day laborers in the city.[12][6]

Due to his wife's notable involvement in the Montgomery bus boycott, Parks lost his job as a barber at Maxwell Air Force Base[13] after his boss forbade him to talk about his wife or the legal case.[14]

Personal life

On December 18, 1932,[15] Parks married Rosa Louise McCauley, to whom he proposed after their second date.[16][17][8] Parks encouraged his wife Rosa to finish her high school studies[18] and become active in the civil rights movement.[19]

Death

Parks died of throat cancer on August 19, 1977, aged 74.[1] Parks also died in her home.

Legacy

In February 1987, the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development was established.[4]

Parks' Barber License is in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress.[5]

In 2021, the Rosa and Raymond Parks Flat in Detroit (where they lived from 1961 to 1988) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[20]

Parks is portrayed by Peter Francis James in the 2002 film, The Rosa Parks Story.[21]

He is portrayed by David Rubin in the 2018 Doctor Who episode, Rosa.[22]

In the 2018 film, Behind the Movement, Parks is portrayed by Roger Guenveur Smith.

References
  1. "Husband, Raymond Parks | Early Life and Activism | Explore | Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words | Exhibitions at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  2. Hafiz, Amina (2005). "Rosa Parks: Mother of the Civil Rights Movement: 1913 - 2005". Off Our Backs. 35 (9/10): 10–10. ISSN 0030-0071.
  3. "Scottsboro Boys". The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks. May 16, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  4. "BIOGRAPHY – Rosa Parks". June 30, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  5. "Raymond Parks's Barber's License | Early Life and Activism | Explore | Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words | Exhibitions at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  6. Whitaker, Matthew (March 9, 2011). Icons of Black America: Breaking Barriers and Crossing Boundaries [3 volumes]: Breaking Barriers and Crossing Boundaries [Three Volumes]. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-37643-6.
  7. Wilson, Jamie Jaywann (2019). 50 Events that Shaped African American History: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 979-8-216-04118-4.
  8. Crewe, Sabrina; Walsh, Frank (2002). "Chapter 3: The Boycott". The Montgomery Bus Boycott. Gareth Stevens. p. 15. ISBN 978-0836833942. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
  9. Rowbotham, Sheila (October 25, 2005). "Rosa Parks". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  10. Whitaker, Matthew (2011). Icons of Black America: Breaking Barriers and Crossing Boundaries. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0313376436.
  11. "Parks, Rosa | The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute". kinginstitute.stanford.edu. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  12. Women and the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1965. University Press of Mississippi. 2009. ISBN 978-1-60473-107-1.
  13. Theoharis, Jeanne (February 1, 2021). "The Real Rosa Parks Story Is Better Than the Fairy Tale". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 28, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  14. Gore, Dayo F; Theoharis, Jeanne; Woodard, Komozi (2009). Want to start a revolution?: radical women in the Black freedom struggle. New York: New York University Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-8147-8313-9. OCLC 326484307.
  15. United States Congressional Serial Set, Serial No. 14985, House Reports Nos. 175-202. Government Printing Office.
  16. Knight, Gladys L. (December 30, 2008). Icons of African American Protest [2 volumes]: Trailblazing Activists of the Civil Rights Movement [2 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1-57356-736-7.
  17. Theoharis, Jeanne (2013). The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks. Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0807076927. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
  18. "Rosa Parks: Bus Boycott, Civil Rights & Facts". HISTORY. January 11, 2023. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  19. "Rosa's husband Raymond, Montgomery, Ala., [about] 1947". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  20. "Rosa and Raymond Parks Flat (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  21. The Rosa Parks Story Archived 2008-07-05 at the Wayback Machine, 2002, CBS website
  22. "Doctor Who – Series 11 – Episode 2 Rosa". Radio Times. Archived from the original on October 28, 2018. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
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