Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement". She is of African, Scot-Irish- Native American ancestry. Parks rejected bus driver James F. Blake's order to vacate a row of four seats in the "colored" section in favor of a white passenger.