Every year students learn about Rosa Parks. Most learn the myth that she was simply tired when she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white man. Some may learn that she was involved with the NAACP before she refused to move on the bus or that she was not the first to resist Jim Crow seating.

However, the larger story of Rosa Parks offers crucial lessons for young people about a life of activism that is dangerous for the guardians of the status quo.

Mrs. Parks’ life is a tapestry of resistance, including and beyond her brave act on the bus in Montgomery. In fact, she spent more than half her life in Detroit — which Mrs. Parks called “the Northern promised land that wasn’t” — fighting segregation in housing, hospitals, and restaurants; protesting police murders of Black teenagers; organizing against sexual violence; working for Congressman John Conyers; and getting to know Malcolm X.

These stories and more are in the young readers’ edition of The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks.

Not only do young people find the book a gripping read, they also realize how egregious it is to, as Jeanne Theoharis says, “freeze Rosa Parks on the bus.” Rosa Parks’ life offers students a road map from the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter and #MeToo.

Thanks to a donation, the Zinn Education Project is offering more than 2,000 sets of five copies of The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks to public school teachers, school librarians, and teacher educators who have a plan for using and promoting the text.

To request the books, respond to these questions on the request form:

As long as you meet the criteria and respond to all the questions, as asked, the books will be shipped to you in April or May of 2022 by the publisher for you to use this school year or next. Note that other than with the publisher, we do not share your contact information.

We are pleased that this offer coincides with the release by Peacock later this year of a documentary about Rosa Parks. The film is based on the book by Jeanne Theoharis and produced by Soledad O’Brien Productions. As soon as the film is available, we’ll send an announcement.