Rosa Parks
Obama Presidential Center Honoree
Space Name: Rosa Parks Courtyard Lounge | Museum | Lower Level
Rosa Parks was a lifelong civil rights leader whose courage helped ignite a national movement for equality. In 1955, she refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus. This helped spark the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a key action in the Civil Rights Movement. Parks spent her life organizing, mentoring, and advocating for racial equality. Her work endures, showing how we can all transform history through bravery and persistence.
With gratitude to The Kresge Foundation
Legacy on Campus
Campus Courtyards
The Obama Presidential Center campus features six courtyards named after those who have inspired President and Mrs. Obama including civil rights leader Rosa Parks.
Art on Campus
Explore 28 commissioned public art installations across the Center, including Bending the Arc. Martin Puryear's monumental sculpture is inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders.
Meet More Honorees
Through the honoree naming initiative at the Obama Presidential Center, we are partnering with our donors to celebrate a part of the history in which the Obama story is so deeply rooted by associating a named space with a hero, moment, or person "on whose shoulders we stand"—an honoree who made the Obamas’ story possible.
Meet More Honorees