[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 137 (Tuesday, October 25, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11826-S11828]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SENATE RESOLUTION 287--HONORING THE LIFE OF AND EXPRESSING THE 
         CONDOLENCES OF THE SENATE ON THE PASSING OF ROSA PARKS

  Mr. LEVIN (for himself, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Frist, Mr. Reid, Mr. Obama, 
Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Voinovich, Mr. Martinez, Mr. Brownback, 
Mr. Allen, Mr. Talent, Mr. McConnell, Mrs. Dole, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. 
Thomas, Mrs. Hutchison, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Harkin, Mrs. Boxer, Mrs. 
Feinstein, Mr. Kerry, and Mr. Durbin) submitted the following 
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 287

       Whereas Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913, as Rosa 
     Louise McCauley, to James and Leona McCauley in Tuskegee, 
     Alabama;
       Whereas her moral clarity and quiet dignity shaped and 
     inspired the Civil Rights Movement in the United States over 
     the last half-century;
       Whereas Rosa Parks was educated in Pine Level, Alabama, 
     until the age of 11, when she enrolled in the Montgomery 
     Industrial School for Girls and then went on to attend the 
     Alabama State Teachers College High School;
       Whereas on December 18, 1932, Rosa McCauley married Raymond 
     Parks and settled in Montgomery, Alabama;
       Whereas, together, Raymond and Rosa Parks worked in the 
     Montgomery, Alabama branch of the National Association for 
     the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where Raymond 
     Parks served as an active member and Rosa Parks served as a 
     secretary and youth leader;
       Whereas on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for 
     refusing to give up her seat in the ``colored'' section of 
     the bus to a white man on the orders of the bus driver 
     because the ``white'' section was full;
       Whereas the arrest of Rosa Parks led African Americans and 
     others to boycott the Montgomery city bus line until the 
     buses in Montgomery were desegregated;
       Whereas the 381-day Montgomery bus boycott encouraged other 
     courageous people across the United States to organize in 
     protest and demand equal rights for all;
       Whereas most historians date the beginning of the modern-
     day Civil Rights Movement in the United States to December 1, 
     1955;
       Whereas the fearless acts of civil disobedience displayed 
     by Rosa Parks and others resulted in a legal action 
     challenging Montgomery's segregated public transportation 
     system, which subsequently led to the United States Supreme 
     Court, on November 13, 1956, affirming a district court 
     decision that held that Montgomery segregation codes deny and 
     deprive African Americans of the equal protection of the laws 
     (352 U.S. 903);
       Whereas in 1957, Rosa Parks moved to Detroit, Michigan;

[[Page S11828]]

       Whereas in 1965, Representative John Conyers hired Rosa 
     Parks as a member of his staff, where she worked in various 
     administrative jobs for 23 years and retired in 1988 at age 
     75;
       Whereas Rosa Parks continued her civil rights work by 
     starting the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self 
     Development in 1987, a nonprofit organization that motivates 
     young people to reach their highest potential;
       Whereas the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self 
     Development offers educational programs for young people, 
     including two signature programs: first, Pathways to Freedom, 
     a 21-day program that introduces students to the Underground 
     Railroad and the civil rights movement with a freedom ride 
     across the United States and Canada, tracing the underground 
     railroad into civil rights, and second, Learning Centers and 
     Senior Citizens, a program that partners young people with 
     senior citizens where the young help the senior citizens 
     develop their computer skills and senior citizens mentor the 
     young;
       Whereas Rosa Parks has been commended for her work in the 
     realm of civil rights with such recognitions as the NAACP's 
     Spingarn Medal, the Martin Luther King, Jr., Nonviolent Peace 
     Prize, the Presidential medal of Freedom, and the 
     Congressional Gold Medal;
       Whereas Time magazine named Rosa Parks one of the ``100 
     most influential people of the 20th century'', The Henry Ford 
     Museum in Michigan bought and exhibited the bus on which she 
     was arrested, and The Rosa Parks Library and Museum opened in 
     Montgomery in 2000;
       Whereas in 2005, the year marking the 50th anniversary of 
     Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat on the bus, we 
     recognize the courage, dignity, and determination displayed 
     by Rosa Parks as she confronted injustice and inequality; and
       Whereas in 1988 Rosa Parks said: ``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'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate honors the life and 
     accomplishments of Rosa Parks and expresses its condolences 
     on her passing.

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