Rosa Parks Federal Building

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I proudly rise in support of S. 1278 introduced by Ms. Stabenow, which will designate this Federal building to be named for Rosa Parks.

Ms. Parks is famous in civil rights history for refusing to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, leading to the Montgomery bus boycott. She also, after that great, heroic incident--which was memorialized in a song by the Neville Brothers called ``Sister Rosa''-- moved to Detroit, Michigan.

When she moved to Detroit she was employed by the United States Congressman John Conyers in his office. John Conyers was a great hero of mine and a great star who served in this body for many, many years. He hired Ms. Parks, and he was responsible for Dr. King's birthday becoming a Federal holiday. I am sure he would have been very proud to be here today to see this courthouse named for Rosa Parks for her work in the civil rights movement, as well as in his office and just being an outstanding citizen at large.

She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996, the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999, and she was the first woman to ever lie in state in the United States Capitol rotunda. A statue of her is present in our Statuary Hall, as well.

I am pleased to honor her memory by supporting this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

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Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would again indicate that I support this bill, and I urge everyone else to support it. I think so fondly upon John Conyers, who was my mentor when I came to Congress, and how much he would have appreciated this bill.

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