Rosa Parks Sibling: Meet Rosa Parks’ Brother Sylvester McCauley

American civil rights activist Rosa Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) is best known for playing a crucial part in the Montgomery bus boycott. She is referred to as “the mother of the freedom movement” and “the first woman of civil rights” by the US Congress.

On December 1, 1955, Parks refused bus driver James F. Blake’s request to give up a row of four seats in the “colored” section in favor of a White passenger once the “White” section was full in Montgomery, Alabama.

The Montgomery bus boycott and Parks’ act of defiance became crucial movement symbols. She organized and worked with civil rights activists including Edgar Nixon and Martin Luther King, Jr., and became an international symbol of resistance to racial segregation.

Rosa Parks Sibling: Meet Rosa Parks’ Brother Sylvester McCauley

James and Leona McCauley’s firstborn child was named Rosa. Sylvester was born on August 20, 1915, and her parents divorced shortly after. In Pine Level, Alabama, Sylvester grew up alongside Rosa. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and then relocated to Detroit. He and his wife, Daisy, persuaded Rosa to relocate to Detroit in 1957. On November 27, 1977, Sylvester passed away.