In 1957 the Parks family moved to Detroit, Mitch., where she remained
active in civil rights causes. In 1965 she joined the staff of U.S. Congressman John Conyers, Jr.
(1929– ), working as an assistant in his Detroit office
until her retirement in 1988. A year earlier, she had founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for
Self-Development, a nonprofits organization offering support and career guidance to
young blacks.
Sometimes called the mother of America's
civil rights movement, Parks received numerous honours,
including the NAACO's Spin garn Medal (1979)
and the Congressional Gold Medal (1999). Groundbreaking took place in April 1998 for the Rosa Parks Library and Museum of
Troy State University Montgomery, located on the spot of her 1955 arrest; the
facility opened to the public in December 2000.
Parks died at her home in Detroit on October
24, 2005. After her death, her body lay in state in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol; she was the first woman
accorded such an honour. Funeral services were held in Detroit, where she was
buried. Her writings include an autobiography, Rosa Parks: My Story (1992).