On the 100th anniversary of Rosa Parks' birth, Jeanne Theoharis, author of The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, talks about her new biography and its focus on Parks' activism.

Over the weekend, the AP gained access to a six-page essay handwritten by Rosa Parks, recounting details of a white man attacking and attempting to rape his black housekeeper. It’s unclear whether the story is autobiographical or fictional, but it provides a window into the life of Rosa Parks, a legendary human rights activist who spent years bringing the cases of rape and violence against black women to national attention.

Consider the history of the civil rights movement, but set aside for a moment the well-known stories from men: those of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Emmett Till, Medgar Evers and Andrew Goodman. If we examine the movement through the eyes of the women there at the time, what would the story sound like? 

Rosa Parks arrested Dec. 1, 1955

The facts: On Dec. 1, 1955, a seamstress got off work at the Montgomery Fair department store and boarded a bus. She took a seat in the fifth row, the 'Colored Section,' and ...