Rosa Parks - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

  • OutKast had a song, "Rosa Parks", the most successful radio single of their 1998 album Aquemini. They had used her name without permission and, in March 1999, a lawsuit (Rosa Parks v. LaFace Records) was filed on Parks' behalf against the American hip-hop duo and their record company. The lawsuit was settled April 15, 2005; OutKast, their producer and record labels paid Parks an undisclosed cash settlement. They also agreed to work with the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute to create educational programs about the life of Rosa Parks. The record label and OutKast admitted to no wrongdoing. Responsibility for the payment of legal fees was not disclosed.
  • The documentary Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks (2001) received a 2002 nomination for Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject. She collaborated that year in a TV movie of her life starring Angela Bassett.
  • The film Barbershop (2002 featured a barber, played by Cedric the Entertainer, arguing with others that other African Americans before Parks had been active in bus integration, but she got renown as an NAACP secretary. The activists Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton launched a boycott against the film, contending it was "disrespectful", but NAACP president Kweisi Mfume stated he thought the controversy was "overblown." Parks was offended and boycotted the NAACP 2003 Image Awards ceremony, which Cedric hosted.
  • The Neville Brothers recorded a song about Parks called "Sister Rosa" on their 1989 album Yellow Moon. A music video for the song was also made.

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