Rosa Lee Parks 1913-2005 The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement

When Rosa Parks commited an act of defiance in 1955 by refusing to give up her seat to a white man she sparked the Civil Rights Movement. She was a 42 year old seamstress from Detroit when she changed the course of American history and became the catalyist for racial equality. She was fined $14 dollars and jailed. Her arrest triggered a 381 day boycott of the bus system organized by the then unknown Martin Luther King Jr. 1964 saw the Introduction of the Civil Rights Act which banned racial discrimination in public accomodations. She became a revered figure worldwide. In 1996 Ms. Parks recieved the Presidential Medal of Freedom and in 1999 she recieved the Congressional Gold Medal. She died yesterday in her hometown of Detroit at the age of 92. May we honor her, and may she rest in peace.
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" I am leaving this legacy to all of you... to bring peace, justice, equality, love and a fulfillment of what our lives should be. Without vision, the people will perish, and without courage and inspiration, dreams will die- the dream of freedom and peace."

~Rosa Parks