Understanding Biographies
This worksheet helps fourth-grade students understand the key elements and purpose of biographies through reading comprehension and writing activities.
Includes
Standards
Understanding Biographies
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Date:
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Read the passage about Rosa Parks and answer the questions that follow. Then, complete the other activities to show your understanding of biographies.
Rosa Parks: A Quiet Hero
Rosa Parks was born in 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. She grew up in a time when there were many unfair laws that separated black people and white people. This was called segregation. Black people were often treated differently and not given the same rights as white people.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was riding a bus home from work in Montgomery, Alabama. The bus had special rules because of segregation. White passengers sat in the front, and black passengers sat in the back. If the white section was full, black passengers were expected to give up their seats to white passengers.
That day, the white section filled up, and the bus driver told Rosa Parks to give up her seat to a white man. Rosa Parks was tired of the unfairness. She quietly refused. Her brave act led to her arrest, but it also sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a major event in the Civil Rights Movement. For over a year, black citizens of Montgomery refused to ride the buses. This boycott eventually led to a Supreme Court decision that declared bus segregation unconstitutional.
Rosa Parks became known as the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.” She showed that one person's courage can make a huge difference in the world.
1. What unfair system did Rosa Parks experience?
Democracy
Segregation
Equality
Freedom
2. What important event did Rosa Parks' action help start?
A bus tour
A new bus route
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
A bus driver's strike
3. A biography is a story about a person's written by else.
4. Biographies usually tell events in order, from when the person was born until later in their life.
5. An autobiography is a story a person writes about their own life.
True
False
6. What is one important lesson you can learn from Rosa Parks' story?
7. Think of someone you admire (a family member, a teacher, a historical figure). Write a short paragraph about their life, focusing on one important event or accomplishment. This will be a very short biography!