She'd tell me what her life was like when she was a little girl growing up in Alabama. That led to her telling me a lot of stories. I believe her story is more relevant than ever because she and people like her laid a foundation so that women today can be more vocal, can run for office, can demand equal rights and equal pay, and say we don't have to be harassed.Īfter that NAACP event, that's when I started asking her questions about what she witnessed, what she endured, and what life was like for black people back then. But I also pay her my respects by refusing to let her legacy be turned into a caricature. 4 on my great aunt's birthday, I go to Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit to pay her my respects. But it was also emotional for me to hear Oprah's words because she gave people the chance to see that Rosa Parks - my Auntie Rosa - was not just a tired old lady who sat down on a bus one day. I was excited when Oprah brought up Taylor's story because people need to know these things happened to black women.
But at this year’s Golden Globes, when Oprah Winfrey talked about Recy Taylor, a woman from Alabama who was kidnapped and raped by six white men, Oprah also did some myth-busting about my aunt with these words: "Her story was reported to the NAACP where a young worker by the name of Rosa Parks became the lead investigator on her case and together they sought justice." Or maybe you remember seeing pictures of her shaking a President’s hand. Maybe you remember Rosa Parks as that quiet, older woman being honored at an awards show. This is how you know her: She was the tired seamstress who refused to give up her seat, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955. We are honored to share Urana's words with you again this year in the hopes that we can help continue her mission: to tell the true story of her aunt, Rosa Parks. The news of her sudden passing in July 2018 at age 42 was a gut punch. She just wanted to make sure she had the energy to keep educating young people. On one of those phone calls last spring, Urana mentioned that her cancer had returned. Urana stayed in touch after publication, phoning me from time to time to tell me the latest details of her activism, particularly of her work in schools. As is sometimes the case, Urana felt more comfortable letting someone else do the writing, an "as-told-to." I interviewed her for a couple hours - we bonded over being breast cancer survivors - and I wrote the article below based on our conversation. I knew Urana worked tirelessly to educate the public, regularly speaking in churches, community centers, and schools, about the true story of her aunt. Last year, in anticipation of what would have been Rosa Parks' 105th birthday, I reached out to her great niece, Urana McCauley, to ask if she'd be interested in writing an op-ed for Shondaland.
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