[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 137 (Tuesday, October 25, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2170]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          DEATH OF ROSA PARKS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 25, 2005

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, Rosa Parks embodied the modern civil rights 
movement in the United States. Through her quiet determination to 
challenge a racist law by refusing to give up her bus seat to a white 
passenger, Rosa Parks sparked massive civil disobedience by fellow 
African-Americans in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. Her arrest led to a 
year-long bus boycott and ultimately a Supreme Court decision that 
outlawed segregation on buses.
  In a broader sense Rosa Parks was the conscience of our nation, who 
forced Americans to confront the racism in our government and society. 
Her case cried out for action, as our government struggled to implement 
the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee to provide ``the equal protection 
of the law'' to all citizens, regardless of race.
  Civil rights historian and author Taylor Branch described Rosa Parks 
as a ``tireless worker and churchgoer, of working-class station and 
middle class demeanor.'' Her case raised the profile of the National 
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where she 
was secretary of the local chapter. The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. 
seized on her case and over the next decade rose to national prominence 
by leading the effort to enact historic civil rights and voting rights 
legislation in Congress.
  America bestowed its highest honors on Rosa Parks later in her life, 
including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold 
Medal. Her life and legacy shows us that one person can change the 
course of history by courageously standing up for what is right. We 
must honor her legacy by continuing the fight for civil rights and 
equality under the law, to insure that all Americans, regardless of 
race, have the opportunity to pursue the blessings of liberty.

                          ____________________