Trademark Notice: Rosa Parks™ Rosa L. Parks™ and all iterations are trademarks of The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development,™ under the management and control of cofounder Mrs. Elaine Eason Steele, and her assigns when so designated. Any unauthorized use without written permission is expressly forbidden.
Note: Autographed copies
will be available via direct purchase in our coming bookstore, from the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development. The institute is in the process of establishing the inventory to handle to expected huge demand.
About us
By Her Side
The “North Star” of this book… is the destruction of myths with the truth.
One of the most despicable myths is that 42-year-old Rosa Louise Parks, who was secretary of the local NAACP, was the rallying force behind the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and not 15-year-old, pregnant Claudette Colvin, because Ms. Colvin had darker skin. Such revision of history was only made after Mrs. Park’s passing. Even Reverend Al Sharpton (made in his book and on Nick Cannon’s TV Show-watch it here) has advanced this myth. We love him but he is wrong.
This is just one myth that persists; there are many more.
Truth is the guiding and singular purpose of By Her Side.
However, we do not dwell on myths.
There are so many beautiful, enlightening, educational experiences that I share.
There are more than 200 books about my dearest and closest friend, my mentor, and spiritual mother, Mrs. Rosa Louise Parks. The public may be forgiven for accepting as fact the many, now ingrained perceptions about iconic events in particular, and Mrs. Parks’ life and activities in general. I suppose that is true for many of the celebrated heroes of our struggle for freedom and justice. However, I take it personally. I was there, with a view from within the room, not as an outsider.
My decision to write this book is not a new one, and it did not come easily. For years, many individuals and publishers who are aware of my unique and enduring friendship, and my heart and soul, arm-in-arm association with Mrs. Parks have approached me about telling the amazing journey I shared with her—a journey that began when I was a 16-year-old student.
Had my life followed a conventional, unremarkable personal path, perhaps I would not be undertaking the telling of this story. You see, this work has a purpose greater than the mere chronicling of the life of this first daughter of a Spelman College mother and devoted teacher, and a proud Tuskegee Airman father. Again, and to be often repeated, the ‘North Star’ of this book is to set straight the often-misstated record regarding the Rosa Louise Parks I, and my “slightly younger” sister Anita, knew and understood unlike anyone.
What you will see in this book is…The View From Within.
— Elaine Eason Steele