FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2005
Contact: Rep. Gabe Leland
Phone: (517) 373-6990
LANSING - State House Democrats remembered Rosa Lee Parks during the House legislative session in the Capitol today.
Parks, known as the "mother of the civil rights movement," died of natural causes Monday in her Detroit home. She was 92.
"Rosa Parks is an example of leadership and courage," said Rep. Gabe Leland (D-Detroit). "She refused to leave her seat on that bus because she knew in her heart that it was the right thing to do. Rosa Parks didn't only spark the civil rights movement, but she made America a better place to live."
On Dec. 1, 1955, Parks became a catalyst for the civil rights movement after she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Ala. Parks was later arrested, jailed and fined $14 for refusing to move to the back of the bus. At that time, Jim Crow laws required separation of the races in buses, restaurants and public facilities in the south.
Parks' arrest sparked a 381-day boycott of the public transportation system led and organized by a little-known minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The civil rights movement led to many laws that shattered Jim Crow, including the 1964 federal Civil Rights Act, which banned racial discrimination in public accommodations.
"In her 92 years with us, Rosa Parks taught us how to stand up for freedom, respect and justice," Leland said.