109 HCON 273 IH: Recognizing the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott. U.S. House of Representatives 2005-10-25 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

109th CONGRESS 1st Session

H. CON. RES. 273

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

October 25, 2005

Mr. Rogers of Alabama (for himself, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Davis of Alabama, Mr. Bonner, Mr. Bachus, Mr. Everett, Mr. Aderholt, Mr. Scott of Georgia, Mr. McCotter, Mr. Neal of Massachusetts, Mr. Wexler, Ms. Bordallo, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mr. Ehlers, Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Moran of Virginia, Mr. Taylor of Mississippi, Ms. Solis, Ms. Norton, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Burgess, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Mr. Nadler, Mr. McNulty, Ms. Watson, Mr. Moore of Kansas, Mr. Levin, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Porter, Mr. Holt, Mr. Snyder, Mrs. Emerson, Mr. Rothman, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Schwarz of Michigan, Ms. Loretta Sanchez of California, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mrs. McCarthy, Mr. Upton, Mr. Ross, Mrs. Miller of Michigan, Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida, Mr. Tiahrt, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Foley, Mr. Boustany, Mr. Emanuel, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Israel, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mrs. Capps, Mr. Al Green of Texas, Mr. Etheridge, Mr. Honda, Mr. Berman, Mr. Wolf, and Mr. Scott of Virginia) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Recognizing the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott.

Whereas on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, an African American seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested for refusing to obey a busdriver’s order to give up her seat on a city bus for a White passenger boarding the bus, as required by city ordinance; Whereas outrage over the arrest of Rosa Parks initiated a meeting that weekend between the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Jo Ann Robinson, who was the head of the Women’s Political Council, and E.D. Nixon, who was the Montgomery official for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, also known as the NAACP; Whereas this meeting resulted in the announcement of a large-scale boycott against Montgomery city buslines; Whereas ministers voiced the communal outrage over Rosa Parks’s arrest during Sunday services, unifying the African American community in Montgomery as the ministers conveyed the message of the boycott; Whereas members of the community continued to spread the news of the boycott by disseminating leaflets encouraging participation in the boycott; Whereas through nonviolent means and the support of ministers and African American and White citizens alike, the Montgomery bus boycott and the beginning of the civil rights movement gained national attention; Whereas Rosa Parks became and remains an icon of pride and dignity, establishing a standard that has continued through the civil rights movement; Whereas Martin Luther King, Jr., became the president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, also known as the MIA, and helped organize the boycott with other civil rights leaders, such as Ralph Abernathy; and Whereas the Montgomery bus boycott ended after the United States Supreme Court, on November 13, 1956, upheld a Federal district court ruling declaring segregation on buses unconstitutional: Now, therefore, be it

That Congress— (1)recognizes and honors the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott; and (2)recognizes the historical significance of the Montgomery bus boycott to the United States.