Rosa Parks Rosa parks was born on February 4,1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. She was a civil rights leader. She attended Alabama State College, worked as a seamstress and as a housekeeper. Her father, James McCauley, was a carpenter, and her mother, Leona (Edward's) McCauley was a teacher. Rosa P. had one younger brother named, Sylvester. Her family lived in Tuskegee. When Rosa was two years-old her parents split up and she, her mother, and her brother moved to her grandparents farm in Nearby Pine Level, Alabama. Her grandparents were one of the few black families who owned their own land, rather than work for someone else. Although