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Exhibition Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words

Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words

Rosa Joins the NAACP’s Montgomery Branch

NAACP Montgomery Branch meeting, ca. 1947. Photograph. Visual Materials from the Rosa Parks Papers, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (019.00.00)
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Rosa Joins the NAACP’s Montgomery Branch

In 1943 Rosa Parks joined the Montgomery NAACP and became its secretary, reuniting with her former classmate Johnnie Carr. With E. D. Nixon, she investigated cases involving police brutality, rape, murder, and discrimination. In 1946 the Montgomery NAACP defended the paroled Scottsboro Boy Andy Wright and found him employment. That same year, Parks attended a leadership training program run by Ella Baker. In 1947 E. D. Nixon was elected Alabama state president of the NAACP, and Parks became the first state secretary in 1948.