[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 54 (Tuesday, April 20, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H2182-H2183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               A DRUM MAJOR FOR JUSTICE--MRS. ROSA PARKS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, I stand tonight as a very proud 
black woman, a woman who came from Alabama, one who was there during 
the time of the Rosa Parks venture. Before I go on to talk about this 
woman who should, by all stature, receive this congressional medal, let 
me congratulate my colleague and friend, the gentlewoman from Indiana 
(Ms. Carson), who had to come to the 105th Congress to sensitize us of 
the importance of recognizing this heroine that we call Rosa Parks.
  She is the mother of civil rights because it was in December of 1955, 
Mr. Speaker, that Rosa Parks refused to get up after having spent all 
day as a seamstress to give her seat to a man who was nonblack, who 
thought that he was to sit at the front of the bus and she was to sit 
in the back where there were no more seats.
  Mr. Speaker, Rosa Parks showed courage, dedication and commitment

[[Page H2183]]

to the cause of saying that everyone should be equal when they paid 
their fare to ride a bus. That ignited the civil rights movement.
  We know that the mother of civil rights, Rosa Parks, was the catalyst 
in bringing about the civil rights laws that we now know because when 
Rosa Parks refused to get up from her seat, it was the Reverend Dr. 
Martin Luther King who said: I will not stand for this woman to be 
removed from a bus and not fight for cause. Indeed, she is a drum major 
for justice.
  So on Monday, April 19, 1996, the United States Senate unanimously 
approved legislation to award the congressional medal to a woman who is 
deserving of that, an icon of the civil rights movement. According to 
Mrs. Parks, she has been pushed as far as she could stand when she was 
arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, for refusing to give up her 
seat and move to the back of the bus.
  As I look at myself as the vice chair of the Women's Caucus here in 
the U.S. Congress, I know that I would not be standing here had it not 
been on the shoulders of Rosa Parks, a woman who saw a need to open the 
doors for opportunities for all of us, not only African American women, 
but for all women in this country. Mrs. Parks is an integral part of 
the civil rights movement which led to sweeping changes of the laws and 
the social fabric of these United States. These changes, due in part to 
the efforts of Mrs. Parks, have paved the way for not only the 
opportunities for me, but for my grandchildren, my granddaughters and 
my grandson.
  She is a quiet strength, Mr. Speaker. If you have seen her, you would 
wonder how this woman, who seemed to be so frail perhaps, would have 
done this; but her strength and her courage and her commitment and her 
faith caused her to say: I shall not be moved, I shall not return back 
to the days of degradation . . . So, she is truly a drum major for 
justice, Mr. Speaker.
  I am so proud that this House now has seen befitting for it to bestow 
a congressional medal on a woman who deserved this. She will now take 
her position and stand with Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela as persons 
who changed the core of this civil rights movement in this country and 
in this world and made it better for all of our children, black 
children, white children, brown children, red children, yellow 
children, to have the opportunities that should be accorded them in 
these United States.
  Mr. Speaker, I am so happy to be a part of the 106th Congress who 
bestowed a congressional medal on such an outstanding woman.
  Mr. Speaker, on Monday, April 19, 1999, the United States Senate 
unanimously approved legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal 
to Rosa Parks, an icon of the civil rights movement.
  According to Mrs. Parks she: ``had been pushed as far as she could 
stand,'' when she was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 for 
refusing to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus, as 
mandated by law. This courageous act of civil disobedience led to the 
Montgomery bus boycott, which helped to form the foundation of the 
civil rights movement in this country.
  Mrs. Parks was an integral part of the civil rights movement, which 
led to sweeping changes of the laws and social fabric of the United 
States. These changes, due in part to the efforts of Mrs. Parks, have 
paved the way for increased opportunities for all Americans.
  The title of Mrs. Parks' autobiography ``Quiet Strength,'' is a 
fitting title and description of a woman whose selfless act made this 
country a better place, and whose life should serve as an example of 
public service. Mrs. Parks is truly a drum major for justice and it is 
for these reasons that Congress should honor this American hero with 
the Congressional Gold Medal.

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