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Remembering Rosa Parks

By: Jim Costa
By: Jim Costa
Date: Oct. 26, 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights Judicial Branch


REMEMBERING ROSA PARKS -- (House of Representatives - October 26, 2005)

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Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and memory of the civil rights icon Rosa Louise Parks. Almost half a century ago, Mrs. Parks' refusal to surrender her bus seat triggered the first organized actions in the civil rights movement. Because of her action that day, Mrs. Parks will always be remembered as the ``mother of the civil rights movement.''

Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4, 1913. As a girl, she wrote, ``I had a very strong sense of what was fair.'' She led a life dedicated to improving civil rights and acted as an inspiration to many Americans.

On December 1, 1955, Mrs. Parks sat in an unreserved section of a city bus. When asked to give up her seat for a white man she politely refused. It is a common misconception that Rosa Parks was unwilling to give up her seat because she was tired from a long day at work. As she told it, ``the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.''

Mrs. Parks' act of civil disobedience is the popular inspiration that led to Martin Luther King Jr.'s decision to lead a bus boycott that lasted an amazing 381 days. On November 13, 1956, in an important victory for the civil rights movement, the Supreme Court outlawed segregation on buses. The civil rights movement would experience many important victories, but Rosa Parks will always be remembered as its catalyst.

Mrs. Parks was a shy, soft spoken woman who was uncomfortable being revered as a symbol of the civil rights movement. She only hoped to inspire young people to achieve great things. However, in 1996 her place in U.S. history was cemented when she was awarded the Nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton. Mrs. Parks passed away October 24th at the age of 92, at her home in Detroit.

Rosa Parks will be remembered for her lasting contributions to society. Her legacy lives on in the continued struggle for civil rights around the world. She will be missed.

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