[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 138 (Wednesday, October 26, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H9259-H9266]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         REMEMBERING ROSA PARKS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Westmoreland). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy, and on the designation of the Minority Leader, the 
balance of the hour will be controlled by the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Conyers).


                             General Leave

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of this Special 
Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Alabama 
(Mr. Davis) whose district I had the pleasure of being in, and with 
him, only a few days ago.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a sad moment for me. The truth of the matter is 
that we have known that Mrs. Rosa Louise Parks had been in poor health; 
that frequently we would ask, how is she doing this week? Is she any 
better? How are things going? And now that this moment has come 2 days 
ago, we still cannot accept this reality of this dear, powerful, gentle 
lady going to her reward after 92 years of being with us on this Earth.
  She has been regarded as an ordinary person, as an example of what an 
ordinary person can do in our system. But I am not convinced that she 
is an ordinary person, because I have seen her at very close range. The 
fact of the matter is I believe she is an extremely extraordinary 
person because of these two qualities. First of all, she was a gentle 
lady. She was soft-spoken. She had never in the years I have known her 
ever raised her voice in anger. She did not debate anyone. She was a 
very mild-mannered person. She never sought the limelight. She never, 
ever issued a press release. She never sought awards or commendations. 
Yet she received more than most people do in this world that we live 
in.
  So that was this one aspect of her, but there was another. There was 
inside her forged a set of principles of which two were very prominent 
in terms of my analysis here this evening. One, she was a very 
religious woman. She attended church with great regularity, but, more 
than that, she worked in the church. She helped out. She was there 
during the week. And combined with her religious convictions was this 
fierce antipathy to segregation. And I do not know how many people we 
can think of that combine these two kinds of characteristics, soft 
spoken and humble, and yet fiercely prepared, in a nonviolent way, to 
fight segregation.
  So she came to this activity not as something that she just happened 
to get into or that she moved one day, she did something different; she 
had always been an activist in Alabama. She was a member of the NAACP, 
she was always the first to sign the membership card, and it is hard to 
remember that this could be the case, but in the 1940s, being a member 
of the NAACP in the South, and publicly acknowledging it, was a very 
daring and courageous move in and of itself.
  She subscribed to the theory of nonviolence. So when, on December 1, 
1955, she decided that she would not give up her seat on a public bus 
in Montgomery, Alabama, some thought that was the first time that she 
had ever done it. But to the contrary, previously she had refused to 
give up her seat, but she was ordered off the bus. She had never been 
arrested. And so this time they told her, you will be arrested, you are 
going to be arrested.

                              {time}  2130

  And she said, I am not giving up my seat. You can do whatever you 
want. And so we marched into this great history.
  Now, I wanted to point out that she was the one that brought Dr. 
Martin Luther King, Jr., into the civil rights movement. Martin Luther 
King, Jr., was at that time 26 years old, and he was called in to come 
after she had been arrested; and it was decided that everyone was going 
to boycott the buses as a result.
  And so it is ironic that she had this role in addition to restarting 
the civil rights movement in America. She brought in the person who 
would ultimately lead it at the same time.
  I am sure Dr. King may not have been thinking about his future and 
his destiny, and I am sure that Mrs. Parks could not anticipate what 
this one move was going to mean. And so I am very happy to tell you 
that I had the opportunity to meet her, to know her before she came to 
Detroit, and what a blessing it was to find out that she ultimately 
with her husband left Montgomery.

[[Page H9260]]

  Why? Because she wanted to go somewhere else? No. She was fired from 
her job. She was black-balled. She could not get employment. And she 
and her husband and family were receiving death threats regularly. So 
they decided to relocate with relatives that were in Detroit, and so it 
was my good fortune to be able to get to know her.
  She joined in my campaign. I said, the first person I am going to ask 
to be on my congressional staff when I get elected would be Rosa Parks. 
And I asked her to join my staff. She did not ask me for a job. I asked 
her to please come and join me, and it was a great source of pleasure 
and delight that she was a minor celebrity.
  People came to my office to see not the Congressman on a constituent 
basis, but merely to get a picture of Rosa Parks or get a signature or 
ask if they could talk with her, and she was as accommodating with them 
as she was with everybody else.
  She was a confidante I was able to connect up. The biggest 
legislative challenge in my very first year was the passage, the 
consideration and passage of the Voter Rights Act of 1965. And here she 
was right in the middle of that, working with the likes of Ralph 
Abernathy and Andrew Young and Fred Shuttleworth, and of course Dr. 
Martin Luther King, and many other of the great names that were around 
that original group that started the civil rights movement, the modern 
civil rights movement as we know it.
  She had a great passion for young people, and she and her husband 
formed the Raymond and Rosa Parks Foundation which still exists today 
and which she and her husband and staff trained young people, and then 
they went visiting the major civil rights sites throughout the South, 
so that they could get the flavor of what was going on, and what 
happened and when it transpired.
  And so, ladies and gentlemen, I see in the firmament of the great 
trilogy of leaders of freedom and justice, Nelson Mandella, Martin 
Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Louise Parks.
  When Nelson Mandella came to Detroit and found out that Rosa Parks 
had come out to join him in welcoming him as he came out of 27 years of 
imprisonment, he began a chant for Rosa Parks, Rosa Parks. And here 
were these two great icons, both well aware of each other and their 
contributions. So it is with some pride that I have had the privilege 
of associating my congressional career with both Dr. King and Rosa 
Louise Parks.
  And this Special Order will continue the discussion that has already 
begun to take place about all of the roles, the contributions, the 
feelings, the legacy of Rosa Parks; and that is how I think she will be 
remembered, as this gentle person with the determination of steel.
  So it is with great pleasure that I yield now to the distinguished 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished 
gentleman for yielding.
  I am moved by the gentleman's words. I want to thank him for this 
Special Order. I want to also thank him for wisdom more than his years 
at that time for the friendship and relationship that he established 
with Mrs. Parks and the fact that she served and honored all of the 
congressional staff by being a congressional staffer and working with 
him over the years.
  I want to point out a few items regarding Mrs. Parks and thank her so 
very much for the service that she has given. John Hope Franklin made a 
comment that I think is very telling of Rosa Parks: her prominence 
endures. And she did not strike a cord for African American women, but 
she struck a cord for Americans. And when we look at the fabric of 
history, American history, world history, and particularly focus on our 
history, there were certain volcanic historical incidents in America: 
the founding of Plymouth Rock, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, 
World War I, World War II, certainly different categories, and the 
beginning of the birth of the civil rights movement in the 20th 
century.

  No one can be more attributed to that than Rosa Parks. For those of 
us who are the beneficiaries of that simple act from a very diminutive 
woman, the act of refusing to adhere to an unjust law, we owe her an 
enormous debt of gratitude.
  For those of us who had the pleasure and opportunity of interfacing 
with her during her lifetime, simply as any one of us would acknowledge 
being in her presence, again we owe her a debt of gratitude. And, 
frankly, I think it is important to note that as she sat down on the 
bus, with intentions to be arrested, she set off a 300-day plus 
movement, boycott, march, walk, described by Dr. King in his words of 
watching one of the Montgomerians, if you will, citizens, walk back and 
forth, back and forth.
  Dr. King eventually asked that person who participated in the 
Montgomery Improvement Association was she not tired. And in her own 
words she said, My feet is tired, but my soul is rested. Rosa Parks set 
the tone and the movement to empower these citizens in Montgomery, 
Alabama to walk and walk and walk and walk.
  We should not ignore the fact that she was a trained member of the 
NAACP, and she will acknowledge that her courage, but also her training 
to accept that nonviolent approach to challenging an unjust law, came 
through that very effective NAACP training that was utilized across the 
deep South.
  For the NAACP was the first body politic on the ground that empowered 
Medgar Evers, and Rosa Parks, many others, Christy Adar in my hometown, 
to become the kind of leaders and pioneers in the civil rights 
movement.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to rise today to thank my good friend and 
colleague, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), the ranking 
member of the Committee on the Judiciary, for his voice and giving us 
the opportunity to speak, and to be able to say, as I close, for there 
are many of us who want to share in our commitment and purpose and our 
celebration of Rosa Parks, that, Mr. Speaker, you well know, and I 
might imagine that someone in your life has spoken to you and taught 
you and said words are not necessarily the best tribute. It has to be 
deeds.
  So I think we stand tonight, many of us, from the Congressional Black 
Caucus who happen to be Members of this Congress, to hopefully say to 
Rosa Parks, as she flies away, for that is a song we often sing in a 
home-going ceremony, she will fly away, flying up to heaven, is that we 
are committed to the reauthorization of the 1965 Voter Rights Act, we 
are committed to the voting rights of every single American, that every 
vote counts, we are committed to a Nation that respects the human 
dignity of each person, and we are committed to finally breaking the 
cycle of segregation, discrimination, and racism in this country.
  We owe Rosa Parks that commitment that we will forever be indebted to 
her by our words. Rosa Parks, will you please rest in peace, and I know 
that you will fly away.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased now to recognize the 
distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott).
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, this is indeed an extraordinary 
time. I want to thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) for 
allowing me to participate in this great testimonial to an 
extraordinary woman, Mrs. Rosa Parks.
  Mrs. Rosa Parks was indeed an extraordinary lady who made 
extraordinary contributions at an extraordinary time in American 
history.
  You know, sometimes at certain moments in life you feel that there 
are no words that are adequate to really tell the true story and to 
give the worth that a life like Rosa Parks deserves.
  But the word that comes to my mind, as I think of Rosa Parks, is that 
word ``great,'' because Rosa Parks was a great lady. But she was a 
great lady of greatness.

                              {time}  2145

  It might be wise of us just to take a moment and look at that word 
great, greatness. The great Greek philosopher Aristotle, when asked 
what did it take to be a great person, said, in order to be a great 
person, you must first of all know yourself, know thyself.
  Well, Rosa Parks certainly knew herself. She not only knew who she 
was, she knew whose she was. For Rosa Parks more than anything else was 
foremost and first of all a child of God, as was so eloquently pointed 
out by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), who knew her so 
personally well. She was truly a child of God.

[[Page H9261]]

  When that question was put to the great Roman general, Marcus 
Aurelius, what does it take to be a great person, Marcus Aurelius said, 
in order to be a great person, you must first of all discipline 
yourself. She was disciplined. She was focussed. She had her mind set 
on that goal of freedom and quality for everyone.
  When that question of greatness was put to the great abolitionist 
Frederick Douglass, of what does it take to be a great person, 
Frederick Douglass said, in order to be a great person, you must have 
courage. Well, Rosa Parks certainly had courage. She was a woman of 
extraordinary courage. Think about that time when the Ku Klux Klan was 
running rampant, when black men were getting lynched for barely not 
tipping their hat or getting off the sidewalk. These were tough, dark 
days for a woman to sit and defy the white power structure. Courage, 
courage.
  Finally, when that question of greatness was put to the Messiah Jesus 
Christ what a great person is, he said, you first of all have to 
sacrifice yourself. And Rosa Parks sacrificed herself. She had what I 
call the great Isaiah instinct, that instinct when God said, ``Who 
would go for us and whom shall we send,'' Isaiah cried out, ``Here am 
I, Lord, send me.''
  At that moment of history when Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955, when 
God called out, ``Who will go for us and who shall we send,'' Rosa 
Parks said, ``Here am I, Lord, send me.''
  My God, what a woman. How much gratitude we have that we must give 
for her. And as an African American sitting and standing in the well of 
this House of Representatives, it is important for us to understand 
that when Rosa Parks sat down and did not get up to give that white man 
her seat on that bus in Montgomery, as she so eloquently stated, many 
people said they thought I was sitting there because my feet were 
tired. Well, that was not the truth. Rosa Parks said, it was not that 
my feet were tired, it was because my soul was tired of being a second-
class citizen. When I sat down and would not give up my seat, I was 
standing up for justice, for equality for all.
  So as an African American standing here, yes, I know she stood up for 
all of us. She certainly stood up for black people. But let it be said 
that more than that, Rosa Parks stood up for America, for black people, 
for white people, for brown people, for yellow people, for everybody 
who believes in that American dream of justice, of equality, of freedom 
for all of us. God bless Rosa Parks, and we thank God for sending this 
extraordinary sojourner of truth our way.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to recognize the 
gentlewoman from Oakland, California (Ms. Lee).
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, first let me thank the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Conyers) for his leadership in organizing this tribute to a great 
leader, Mrs. Rosa Parks. My heart goes out to the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Conyers) in his personal loss. He is truly a remarkable 
human being, and I know that his memories and the love Mrs. Parks had 
for the gentleman will sustain him during this very difficult time.
  My deepest condolences and prayers are with Mrs. Parks's family and 
her friends tonight as we lift her up, lift up her great spirit on this 
House floor on this very somber occasion.
  Mrs. Parks passing away on Monday evening jolted the world. A giant 
has gone home. This has been a very difficult year full of losses. Rosa 
Parks joins other great African American heroes who recently passed 
away: Shirley Chisholm, Judge Constance Baker Motley, and C. Dolores 
Tucker, to name a few, all who faced opposition, stood their ground and 
sacrificed so much for freedom and for justice.
  Mrs. Parks's simple nonviolent act 50 years ago to refuse to give up 
her seat on a bus changed the course of America. The mother of the 
modern civil rights movement, Mrs. Parks shattered the walls of legal 
segregation and opened the doors of opportunities for many, including 
myself. And, yes, I remember those days of the colored only faucets and 
not being able to go to the theaters and on the train only being able 
to ride in one car and not being able to attend public schools. I 
remember those days very vividly.
  Let me say this act of defiance and dissent by Mrs. Parks, it toppled 
Jim Crow. Her life was recognized just this past September when the 
House, led by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), and I must 
remind us, we unanimously passed a resolution in recognition of her 
legacy, H. Con. Res. 208.
  A recipient of this Nation's highest honors, the Presidential Medal 
of Freedom in 1996 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999, Rosa Parks 
stood tall by sitting down. She quietly and peacefully challenged the 
status quo. She took on, though, the entire government, and she took 
down its shameful system of segregation.
  Personally I was so inspired by Mrs. Parks in some of the most 
difficult moments in my career. In fact, just 2 years ago Mrs. Parks 
wrote me a personal reminder, and I read that letter again last night. 
And in her letter to me she said, Never think that you are alone when 
you stand for right, because God is with you. I cannot even explain 
what that meant and means to me.
  Rosa Parks's quiet strength, as her 1994 book is titled, shattered 
the walls of legal segregation. And I had the privilege to be with her 
on many occasions in Los Angeles and in Oakland and in Sacramento, 
California, and I was in awe of this great woman, and I could not help 
but notice her love for children and her commitment to education.
  She was a humble woman, yet a giant of a human being who loved her 
country and insisted that it live up to its creed of liberty and 
justice for all. Three thousand miles away and 50 years later, my 
constituents in the East Bay of California still honor Mrs. Parks's 
legacy. Students enrolled at the Rosa Parks Environmental Science 
Magnet School in Berkeley are reminded every day of her example by the 
painting of Mrs. Parks in the front seat of a bus that hangs above the 
door to the campus's main office. Their school anthem thanks Mrs. Parks 
for her role in bringing segregation to its knees.
  She also inspired my constituents to create the Martin Luther King, 
Jr., Freedom Center, on which I serve as a founding board member. The 
MLK Freedom Center teaches social justice, equality and nonviolence in 
our community, especially with its outreach efforts to our youth. In 
fact, the young people from the center participated in the 40th 
anniversary of the historic civil rights march from Selma to 
Montgomery, Alabama, where they visited the bus stop where Rosa Parks 
protested and dared not to get up, and also the Dexter Avenue Baptist 
Church where Dr. King preached.
  It is an important historical reminder of where we have been, just 
what Rosa Parks really did for us and for the country. It is a reminder 
of how far we have come, but also it reminds us of how far we have to 
go, as we have been recently reminded by Hurricane Katrina.
  Daphne Muse, the director of the Women's Leadership Institute at my 
alma mater, Mills College in Oakland, wrote an essay entitled ``Our 
Week With Rosa Parks--Her Presence is a Gift that Remains Part of our 
Hearts and Home.'' And in this essay she wrote about Mrs. Parks's visit 
to Oakland, California, and she said, In the course of preparing for 
Mrs. Parks's visit, she noted to members of the committee that hotels 
just did not suit her spirit, and she preferred the tradition extended 
through southern hospitality of putting people up in your home. She 
then asked if I would mind if she could be our guest during her week-
long stay in Oakland. She made only one request of me, and that is that 
we keep her presence a secret. She and her longtime friend Elaine 
Steele were eager to be in a place where they could relax, listen to 
music, and eat great food without being disturbed.
  Daphne Muse goes on to say, Although we had never even met, when Rosa 
Parks walked through our front door, she instantly became family.
  Mr. Speaker, tonight as we remember this dignified, courageous and 
remarkable woman, let us honor her life and her legacy by standing up 
for what is right, for embracing peace and nonviolence as an effective 
tool in our work as public servants. And let us keep her family and her 
friends in our prayers and in our hearts and in our souls.
  Thank you, Rosa Parks. May you finally now rest in peace.

[[Page H9262]]

  Mr. Speaker, the full text of that essay is as follows:

 Our Week With Rosa Parks: Her Presence Is a Gift That Remains Part of 
                           Our Heart and Home

                            (By Daphne Muse)

       Everyday, history is made by people whose names remain 
     unknown as well as those who become eternal icons. In May of 
     1980, a woman who forever changed our country spent a week in 
     our home. The East Bay Area Friends of Highlander Research 
     and Education Center joined with founder Myles Horton to 
     honor two of the Civil Rights Movements most courageous 
     pioneers: Rosa Parks and Septima Clark. Clark broke ground as 
     a pioneering force in citizenship training and voter 
     education. The two women met at Highlander in 1955, a place 
     where my own mother-in-law Margaret Landes was trained during 
     the 1930s.
       Founded in 1932, Highlander is a civil rights training 
     school located on a 104-acre farm atop Bays Mountain, near 
     New Market, Tennessee. Over the course of its history, 
     Highlander has played important roles in many major political 
     movements, including the Southern labor movements of the 
     1930s, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1940s-60s, and the 
     Appalachian people's movements of the 1970s-80s. Through 
     books in our home library, her teachers and my own work as a 
     writer, Anyania knew about the role Ms. Parks played in 
     changing the course of history.
       Like millions of other African Americans, Mrs. Parks was 
     tired of the racism, segregation and Jim Crow laws of the 
     times. Through her commitment to freedom and training at 
     Highlander Research and Education Center, her refusal to move 
     to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama on December 1, 
     1955, spawned a movement. Parks took a seat in the section of 
     a Montgomery city bus designated for whites. She was 
     arrested, tried and fined for violating a city ordinance. 
     Mrs. Parks, a seamstress, often had run-ins with bus drivers 
     and had been evicted from buses. Getting on the front of the 
     bus to pay her fare and then getting off going to the back 
     door was so humiliating. There were times the driver simply 
     would shut the door and drive off. Her very conscious 
     decision turned into an economically crippling, politically 
     dynamic boycott and ended legal segregation in America. A 
     three hundred and eighty two day bus boycott followed her 
     morally correct and courageous act.
       In the course of preparing for Ms. Parks' visit, she noted 
     to members of the committee that hotels just didn't suit her 
     spirit and she preferred the tradition extended through 
     southern hospitality of putting people up in your home. She 
     then asked if I would mind if she could be our guest during 
     her week long stay in Oakland. She made only one request of 
     us: that we keep her presence a secret. She and her long time 
     friend Elaine Steele were eager to be in a place where 
     they could relax, listen to music and eat great food 
     without being disturbed. The disturbed part was my 
     greatest concern for between the bullet blasting drug wars 
     and the press, I was concerned about how to maintain that 
     part of the agreement.
       Our modest home in the Fruitvale community of Oakland, 
     California had served as a cultural center and refuge to many 
     writers, filmmakers, artists and activists including S1weet 
     Honey in the Rock, novelist Alice Walker and poet Gwendolyn 
     Brooks. Although we'd never even met, when Rosa Parks walked 
     through our front door, she instantly became family. She and 
     Anyania melted into one another's arms like a grandmother 
     seeing her grandchild for the first time. One morning as 
     Anyania was about to take off for school, the button on her 
     dress popped off. It was a jumper filled with multicultural 
     images of ,I children my mother had made Anya. Ms. Parks 
     asked if I had a sewing box, II threaded the needle and sewed 
     the button back on. My spirit spilled over and I just burst 
     into tears.
       Anyania was so good at keeping the secret. I, on the other 
     hand, wanted to blurt out to my family, friends and students 
     at Mills College ``Guess who's sleeping in my bed? A few 
     months ago, a former neighbor came by to pay a visit and 
     started set searching the scores of photographs hanging on 
     the walls in our living room. She stopped, turned around and 
     blurted out, ''No that isn't.'' I instantly knew the 
     photograph to which she was referring. Along with pictures of 
     Fannie Lou Hamer, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Jim Forman hangs 
     a very precious photograph of Rosa Parks surrounded by my 
     then seven-year-old daughter and her playmate Kai Beard. 
     Dottie was simply undone that in all the years she'd come 
     into our home, she like so many others simply thought the 
     woman sitting next to Anyania was her grandmother. A few 
     weeks after she returned to Detroit, Ms. Parks sent Anyania 
     an exquisite portrait of her painted by Paul Collins. That 
     portrait now hangs in Anya's home in Brentwood, California 
     where my grandchildren Maelia and Elijah live, read and play 
     everyday.


          Rosa & Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development.

                                                 January 15, 2003.
     Hon. Barbara Lee,
     U.S. Congress,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Congresswoman Lee: Never think you are alone when you 
     stand for right because GOD is with you. We are very proud of 
     you. It makes us feel good that you are a Congressional 
     Member.
           Love, Peace and Prosperity,
                                                       Rosa Parks.

  Mr. CONYERS. What a beautiful remembrance of a great lady. I am sure 
the gentlewoman is one of the few people in Congress that have a 
written communication from Mrs. Parks. I congratulate the gentlewoman.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Watson).
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, Rosa Parks's life is a milestone in American 
history. I stand here because she sat there. Her simple defiance of 
refusing to relinquish her seat 50 years ago on a bus in Montgomery, 
Alabama, ignited the civil rights movement that transformed these 
United States. Without Rosa Parks there may not have been a Martin 
Luther King or a civil rights movement.
  Her death at the age of 92 reminds us all that one person can make a 
profound difference in the lives of others and in the course of 
history. She is the embodiment and exemplar of today's human rights 
movements around the world.
  Part of Rosa Parks's legacy was her quiet dignity and disdain for 
injustice. She was truly a woman of peace. What she determined that 
fateful day on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama, is that she could not 
compromise her essential humanity. Her grace and her strength 
exemplified a purity of spirit and commitment to truth.
  The road less traveled by Rosa Parks was not always smooth or kind. 
She and her husband received numerous death threats and lost their jobs 
in the aftermath of the historic bus boycott. Her supporters' houses 
were fire-bombed.

                              {time}  2200

  Congress stood by and did nothing. Mrs. Parks finally moved north to 
Detroit where she had relatives and eventually ended up working for the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), the esteemed Congressman.
  We all grieve the loss of Rosa Parks, and we extend our heartfelt 
sympathy to her family, friends, as well as my friends and colleagues 
here on the floor today and particularly the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Conyers), my friend. We are a better Nation and people because of 
Rosa Parks.
  Mr. Speaker, I also want to briefly acknowledge the passing of two 
other heroes in the struggle for civil and human rights, Dr. C. Delores 
Tucker, buried last Saturday, and the former Congressman, Ed Roybal.
  C. Delores Tucker was a pioneer in the field of civil rights and 
politics. She counted Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and many 
others among the civil rights luminaries as close friends and allies.
  In 1971, Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp appointed Dr. Tucker as 
the first Secretary of the Commonwealth.
  Dr. Tucker had many firsts in her long public career. She was the 
first black woman to be named vice chair of Pennsylvania's State 
Democratic Party and the first African American to serve as president 
of the National Federation of Democratic Women. She was also founder 
and chairwoman of the National Congress of Black Women.
  Dr. Tucker was always on the front lines in the struggle for civil 
rights and the rights of African American women. She led with strength 
and dignity, always stood tall, and was concerned about inequities and 
justice for all. Her spirit lives on.
  Mr. Speaker, Congressman Ed Roybal was a true pioneer in the struggle 
for human and civil rights in California. He was an advocate his whole 
life for the poor, the disenfranchised, and for seniors.
  Ed stood up not only for the rights of Latinos but all people who 
have been denied an equal opportunity. I looked to him as he served on 
the Los Angeles City Council and then in Congress as a voice that could 
be trusted to consistently respond on behalf of those who could not 
speak for themselves. During his long career and many accomplishments, 
he never lost sight of those in need.
  My prayers and thoughts are with the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Roybal-Allard), his daughter, and his family during their period of 
grieving for the loss of a great American. Ed's strong and dedicated 
message will never be silenced. He leaves behind a spiritual, indelible 
legacy that will live on.

[[Page H9263]]

  Mr. Speaker, we have lost a triumvirate.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California for 
her kind remarks and remembrances of Rosa Parks; and now, Mr. Speaker, 
I am very pleased to yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. 
Watt), the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, a veteran member 
of the North Carolina bar and member of the Committee on the Judiciary 
of the House of Representatives.
  Mr. WATT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Conyers) for yielding.
  I was trying to decide how to approach this issue and decided that 
probably there were two things I need to do: number one, I want to 
thank the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Davis), my good friend and 
colleague, and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), my good 
friend and colleague, the two States with whom Rosa Parks probably had 
the strongest physical connections, for convening this Special Order 
for us to pay tribute to Rosa Parks.
  I have listened to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) and the 
gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Davis) and the gentlewoman from California 
(Ms. Lee) and my other colleagues talk about some of their personal 
connections to Rosa Parks. One would think that maybe the chairman of 
the Congressional Black Caucus would have some personal stories, too; 
but when I reflect, I can only say that I never met Rosa Parks, nor for 
that matter but for the fact that Martin Luther King spoke at my high 
school graduation in 1963 did I ever meet Martin Luther King.
  So why would we be here talking about somebody that we have never 
met? Because they have had an impact on our lives. What would compel a 
person to go visit a bus stop in Alabama? Simply because you knew that 
there was a particular significance to that bus stop, that that was the 
stop at which Rosa Parks got on the bus.
  I cannot talk about the personal things about Rosa Parks that some of 
my colleagues have talked about. I can only talk about the impact that 
she had on my life and the lives of other people who viewed her from a 
distance and respected and admired her gentle but defiant stand, the 
stand that she took actually by sitting down and refusing to stand up, 
and by knowing that it had a tremendous impact on everybody around us 
as we were growing up, because by her sitting down and refusing to 
stand up, it allowed other people to stand up and straighten their 
backs and raise their shoulders and look up and start to move in a 
direction that we had not been moving before, starting with a bus 
boycott, and then sit-ins and other public accommodations and the entry 
of Martin Luther King as a leader of a whole series of things that 
started to take place.
  What does that say for us who never met this wonderful woman, except 
from a distance? It says that there are probably many, many, many 
people who are watching us and would it not be a wonderful tribute to 
have somebody someday pay tribute to us who never, ever met us in 
person, by saying this person had an impact on my life.
  I cannot think of a higher way to pay tribute to her. She had an 
impact on my life, and I cannot think of a greater challenge to issue 
to my colleagues in this body, to people who may be watching around the 
Nation, than to say what a wonderful tribute to have somebody think 
that you could impact their lives by simply sitting down or taking a 
stand for what you know is right.

  We have that opportunity every single day, and I am delighted to pay 
tribute to Rosa Parks for exercising that opportunity and for allowing 
me to stand taller on her shoulders, on that giant commitment that she 
made.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina 
(Mr. Watt) for his eloquent statement.
  Mr. Speaker, I am now pleased to yield to the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Millender-McDonald), who has been a strong supporter of 
civil rights, affirmative action, and the Voter Rights Act.
  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Conyers) so much for yielding, and I am absolutely 
privileged to stand here today on the shoulders of a woman who stood so 
proud, though her frame was so small. One act, infused with courage, 
changed this world.
  Her act was a spark that ignited a movement that altered the course 
of history for America. She sat down in order for America to stand up 
and look at itself, look at herself, and to see the atrocities that 
they were doing on a group of people, we African Americans.
  I am so privileged to have had the opportunity to meet this great 
woman. She came to California; and while she came to California, she 
and I both hailed from Alabama. Yes, she was a native Alabaman and so 
am I.
  Rosa Parks, a seamstress who refused to get up from her seat to give 
to it a white man, that is the type of courage that she displayed; and 
yet she did not want anyone to showcase her. In California, when we 
showcased her in the State legislature, she said, I do not want all of 
this. I said to her, I am sorry, you have all of this, because you have 
made this country a better country because of one act that you did.
  All Americans should be standing up at this point, praising Rosa 
Parks for what she did, not only for a group of people but for this 
country. She raised the consciousness of this country and brought it to 
its knees in terms of segregation.
  I am looking at the Washington Post Style, and they say: 
``Appreciation. The Thread That Unraveled Segregation.'' Indeed, she 
did. What a mighty force she was, a woman who used threads to make a 
living, and yet when she was about to make a dress for one of her 
persons, a person who was really not of her ilk, they told her, you 
have made this wedding dress so beautifully you should come to the 
wedding. She says, well, I would like to come to the wedding. But then 
officials at St. John's Episcopal Church told Lucy, the young woman for 
whom she was making the wedding dress, that if Rosa Parks was to attend 
this wedding, she would have to wear a uniform like a servant or sit in 
the balcony. She refused to do that. She was a woman of such great 
spirit, great soul.
  I know the time is passing, but I just want to say to my dear sister, 
she has made us all proud. My daughters met her. I am sorry my 
granddaughters Ayanna, Ramia, and Blair did not meet her, nor my 
grandson Myles; but they will know her because their grandmother will 
tell them how she stood tall in spite of her small frame.
  So thank you, Rosa Parks, for the distinction of becoming the mother 
of a civil rights movement and having the courage to act on behalf of 
all man- and womankind.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California 
(Ms. Millender-McDonald) for those remembrances, and we had no idea 
that she and Rosa Parks had so much in common.
  Mr. Speaker, that concludes our list of people that wanted to speak 
tonight. The celebrations of her life and legacy go on, though we will 
be observing memorial activities in Montgomery, Alabama; in the 
Nation's capital; and in Detroit, Michigan, as well. I want to thank 
you for the privilege of allowing me and other Members to come forward 
this evening for this round of tributes to the life and legacy of Rosa 
Louise Parks.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to pay 
tribute to the life and work of Rosa Lee Parks, a quiet but courageous 
woman who, by sitting down against injustice allowed a mass civil 
rights movement to stand up for justice.
  She was a small woman who had a large impact.
  Rosa Parks was more than the ``Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.''
  The three civil rights workers--Schwerner, Goodman and Cheney--were 
inspired by Rosa Parks before they set out on their journey to register 
people to vote in Mississippi prior to their tragic deaths.
  Viola Gregg Liuzzo, an Italian American Detroit housewife who was 
killed driving marchers back to Selma after the 1965 Selma to 
Montgomery march, knew of the witness of Rosa Parks.
  In 1966 James Meredith gained strength from Rosa Parks as he led a 
``March Against Fear'' from Memphis to Jackson, Mississippi--in which 
he was shot.
  Her dignified leadership inspired those abroad to engage in 
courageous acts--for example, the young man who stood in front of the 
tank in Tiananmen Square.
  Nelson Mandela knew of her actions before he spent 27 years in a 
South African jail.
  She burst on the scene before Pope John Paul II was able to use his 
pontifical office to

[[Page H9264]]

oppose communism. And when those in Eastern Europe struggling for 
independence from the Soviet Union sang ``We Shall Overcome,'' they 
were paying tribute to Rosa Parks, not Ronald Reagan.
  Believing in American democracy she affirmed that one person--without 
money or military might--could make a difference.
  In the face of danger, entrenched racism, a ``states' rights'' 
philosophy--and a belief by many that any effort toward civil rights 
for ``Negroes'' was communist inspired--this graceful woman acted with 
the courage of a lion, and out of a grassroots bus boycott in 
Montgomery, Alabama, came a young man, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and 
a mass movement to end legal apartheid in America.
  Rosa Parks took the legal principle of ``equal protection under the 
law'' for all Americans in the 1954 Brown decision and applied it to 
public transportation--which eventually led to a 1964 Civil Rights Act, 
a 1965 Voting Rights Act and a 1968 Open Housing Act, all of which 
helped to build a more perfect union among the states and make America 
better.
  Do we memorialize her with tributes like this around the nation? 
Absolutely.
  But it also occurred to me that there are few statues of people of 
color and women in the Capitol. I think Rosa Parks deserves to be 
honored with a statue in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol and, 
therefore, today I introduced H.R. 4145, legislation to design, 
sculpture and place her among the greats who have helped to make 
America and the world a better place in which to live. I think that is 
the most appropriate way to permanently memorialize Rosa Parks.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, it was with great sadness that I 
learned of the passing of Mrs. Rosa Parks on October 24, 2005. I rise 
today along with my colleagues to celebrate and remember the life of a 
remarkable woman. I know that I speak for my colleagues here today when 
I say that America has lost one of its greatest citizens.
  Mrs. Rosa Parks became one the Nation's first heroes of the Civil 
Rights Movement. Her refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery 
Alabama bus solely because of her race sparked a result that no one 
could have predicted. The 381-day boycott of the Montgomery Alabama bus 
system and Mrs. Parks' court case were the first nationally recognized 
battles of the Civil Rights Movement. This movement eventually brought 
about legislation to end segregation in public accommodations, to 
secure the voting rights of all citizens, and to eliminate 
discriminatory housing practices, effectively changing the face of 
American society forever.
  Although Mrs. Parks' actions were pivotal in creating laws, her 
actions also galvanized public support for the equal treatment of 
African Americans. It's important to remember that Mrs. Parks' actions 
did not exist in a vacuum. Less than a year had passed since the grisly 
lynching death of Emmett Till in Mississippi. Violence was a constant 
threat to anyone, black or white, who spoke out against the status quo. 
Mrs. Parks' actions resulted in death threats against her and her 
husband, threats which caused her to leave Alabama. The fact that 
people could harbor such hatred against Mrs. Parks solely for her 
desire to be treated as an equal person exposed to much of the country 
the cruel and ignorant practices of Jim Crow. The images from the fight 
for civil rights filled television screens throughout the world and 
were central in changing public opinions.
  I had the honor and pleasure to meet Mrs. Parks when I was a fifth 
grade student in the late 1950's. She worked at Hampton Institute, now 
Hampton University, with my grandmother at the Holly Tree Inn. After 
leaving Hampton, she moved to Detroit, Michigan where she found work as 
a seamstress. In 1965, she went on to serve in the office of our 
distinguished colleague, the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Conyers. Her 
23 years of service to him and to this body are also worthy of 
commendation.
  I want to express my condolences to the Parks family. Rosa Parks' act 
of non-violent resistance showed the world the power of one person in 
the face of injustice. Her name rightly belongs in the pantheon of 
individuals who have put the civil rights of all above their own 
personal safety. We have lost a national treasure.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, today, Americans honor the life and 
legacy of Rosa Parks. Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1914, Rosa Parks 
would become one of the most influential names in America's Civil 
Rights movement.
  In December 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, after a long day of work at 
a local department store, Rosa Parks paid her fare and took a seat on 
the bus. When she was asked to move to the back of the bus so that 
white passengers could take her seat, she refused.
  Through her quiet yet courageous action, Rosa Parks will forever 
remain a lasting example of dignity and nonviolent protest in the quest 
for equality. By refusing to go to the back of the bus, she moved 
America forward. And by refusing to stand up and yield, she empowered 
future generations to stand up for themselves and their civil 
liberties.
  Rosa Parks not only helped change the laws of our country, she helped 
transform the hearts and minds of the American people, which has helped 
lead America closer toward the goal of a truly colorblind society.
  Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I am saddened by the death of 
Rosa Parks, and I rise today to pay tribute to this exemplary woman who 
dynamically changed the 20th Century.
  Rosa Parks became a major catalyst for racial reform in December 1955 
when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a public bus in 
Montgomery, Alabama, defying the racial standards of that time. As a 
result, she was arrested and fined for violating a city ordinance. But 
this arrest began a bus boycott movement that ended legal segregation 
in America, and made Ms. Parks an inspiration to those who longed for 
freedom for everyone. Although the boycott was a success, Rosa Parks 
later lost her job. But, despite of this mistreatment she still held on 
to what she believed in ``freedom and equality.''
  Ms. Parks' valor, on that particular day, helped to make Americans 
aware of the history of the civil rights struggle. She was truly an 
example of courage, determination and inspiration to all Americans and 
for her courageous deed, Rosa Parks was hailed ``the mother of the 
civil rights movement.'' Therefore, on June 15, 1999, we in Congress 
honored Ms. Parks' bravery by awarding her the Congressional Gold Medal 
in an historic ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda.
  It was truly an honor to meet such an outstanding woman, and I will 
never forget her action and dedication that led to the end of 
segregation. Her heroism inspired the freedom and equality that African 
Americans so rightly deserve.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope that Rosa Parks' legacy will be carried forward 
by future generations so that African Americans will continue to 
experience equality amongst all mankind.
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and memory of the civil 
rights icon Rosa Louise Parks. Almost half a century ago, Mrs. Parks' 
refusal to surrender her bus seat triggered the first organized actions 
in the civil rights movement. Because of her action that day, Mrs. 
Parks will always be remembered as the ``mother of the civil rights 
movement.''
  Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4, 1913. As a 
girl, she wrote, ``I had a very strong sense of what was fair.'' She 
led a life dedicated to improving civil rights and acted as an 
inspiration to many Americans.
  On December 1, 1955, Mrs. Parks sat in an unreserved section of a 
city bus. When asked to give up her seat for a white man she politely 
refused. It is a common misconception that Rosa Parks was unwilling to 
give up her seat because she was tired from a long day at work. As she 
told it, ``the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.''
  Mrs. Parks' act of civil disobedience is the popular inspiration that 
led to Martin Luther King Jr.'s decision to lead a bus boycott that 
lasted an amazing 381 days. On November 13, 1956, in an important 
victory for the civil rights movement, the Supreme Court outlawed 
segregation on buses. The civil rights movement would experience many 
important victories, but Rosa Parks will always be remembered as its 
catalyst.
  Mrs. Parks was a shy, soft spoken woman who was uncomfortable being 
revered as a symbol of the civil rights movement. She only hoped to 
inspire young people to achieve great things. However, in 1996 her 
place in U.S. history was cemented when she was awarded the Nation's 
highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President 
Bill Clinton. Mrs. Parks passed away October 24th at the age of 92, at 
her home in Detroit.
  Rosa Parks will be remembered for her lasting contributions to 
society. Her legacy lives on in the continued struggle for civil rights 
around the world. She will be missed.
  Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, in 1913, a little girl name Rosa Louise 
McCauley was born in Alabama. As she grew up, her mother, Leona 
McCauley, encouraged her daughter to ``take advantage of the 
opportunities, no matter how few they were,'' and she did just that. In 
1932, she married Raymond Parks, an active participant in civil rights 
causes. The couple joined the Voters League in the 1940s.
  On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks' life changed forever and she became 
an icon of the civil rights movement when she refused to give up her 
seat on a public bus to make extra room for white passengers. She was 
arrested and convicted of disorderly conduct for violating a local 
ordinance. Parks' arrest led to the formation of the Montgomery 
Improvement Association, which organized a boycott of public buses 
until the U.S Supreme Court ruled that Montgomery's policy of 
segregation on buses was unconstitutional.

[[Page H9265]]

  Later, Parks moved to Michigan, where Rosa initially worked as a 
seamstress and later as an aide to the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. 
Conyers, from 1965 to 1988. She cofounded the Rosa and Raymond Parks 
Institute for Self Development in 1987 with, which sponsors a summer 
bus tour for teenagers that were interested in learning the history of 
America and civil rights.
  Yesterday, at the age of 92, Rosa Parks passed away. Her 
contributions to American history will never be forgotten. Her 
dedication to the cause of civil rights will be sorely missed, but her 
legacy will live on forever.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a courageous 
American hero, Rosa Parks. Mrs. Parks passed away on Monday evening at 
the age of 92 in her home in Detroit, Michigan.
  On February 4, 1913, Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, 
Alabama. The daughter of a carpenter and a teacher, Rosa was home 
schooled until the age of 11 when she attended Industrial School for 
Girls in Montgomery. She obtained her high school diploma from Alabama 
State Teachers College, while caring for her ailing grandmother. Rosa 
married Raymond Parks in 1932 and volunteered for the National 
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP from 1943 to 
1966 while she worked as a seamstress and housekeeper. She and her 
family eventually moved to Detroit and joined the staff of Congressman 
John Conyers (D-MI) in 1965, where she worked for 23 years.
  Mrs. Parks' finest hour occurred on December 1, 1955, when four black 
passengers on a bus were asked to give up their seats for a single 
white man. Three of the passengers complied, one did not. It was at 
that moment that Rosa Parks changed the course of history forever. What 
seemed like a simple gesture made a huge impact on the character of our 
Nation then--and continues to affect our lives now. Following Mrs. 
Parks' brave gesture, residents of Montgomery then began a boycott of 
the city's bus system, in order to protest the treatment as second 
class citizens that African-Americans were subjected to on segregated 
buses.
  Her courage, and the 380-day Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott that 
followed her heroic stand, culminated in the United States Supreme 
Court decision in Browder v. Gayle, which declared segregation on buses 
to be unconstitutional. Her refusal to ``move to the back of the bus'' 
ultimately helped spark the civil rights movement of the 1960s, which 
achieved stronger civil rights guarantees for Americans in all areas of 
life, including housing, employment, schools, and places of public 
accommodation.
  One of Mrs. Parks' main concerns was her desire that Americans 
understand their rights. The day she refused to give up her seat, she 
was fed up with being treated as an inferior human being and simply 
wanted to be treated with dignity. She taught us that we must always 
defend our rights. We must continue the great work spurred on by Mrs. 
Parks. As she said later in life, ``[W]ithout courage and inspiration, 
dreams will die--the dream of freedom and peace.''
  On May 21, 1983, as Mayor of the City of Englewood, New Jersey, I had 
the distinct honor to meet Mrs. Parks and personally bestow upon her a 
key to that city. In addition, two of our Nation's highest honors have 
been awarded to Rosa Parks. In 1996, President Clinton bestowed upon 
Mrs. Parks the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which recognizes 
meritorious service and outstanding contributions to American life. 
Three years later, I had the privilege to vote for the bill that 
awarded a Congressional Gold Medal, our Nation's highest civilian 
honor, to Mrs. Parks on June 15, 1999 for her ``quiet dignity [that] 
ignited the most significant social movement in the history of the 
United States.''
  I have also supported two recent pieces of legislation that pay 
tribute to Mrs. Parks. I voted in favor of H. Con. Res. 208, a 
resolution which commemorates the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks' 
refusal to give up her seat on the bus and the subsequent desegregation 
of American society. This resolution was unanimously approved by the 
House of Representatives on September 14, 2005. Another resolution that 
I support, which will be introduced this week by my colleague, 
Congressman Mike Rogers, will honor the 50th Anniversary of the 
Montgomery Bus Boycott, which resulted from Mrs. Parks' heroic actions 
and ultimately led to the Supreme Court decision in Browder. It is my 
hope that this bill will also be unanimously approved.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise with sadness today as our Nation has lost a 
cherished historical figure and civil rights hero. However, we can all 
take comfort in knowing how much Rosa Parks changed the course of 
history and, by doing so, improved the lives of us all.
  Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, we all have the opportunity to make choices 
in our lives. We have the choice to take the easy route, to blindly 
follow societal values no matter how false they may be. Or, we have the 
choice to take a stand and do what is right no matter how challenging 
the consequences may be.
  December 1st this year will mark the day 50 years ago when one brave, 
great American took a stand that, while resulting in many challenges, 
would spur a civil rights movement that shaped a growing country in a 
very positive way.
  In 1955, when Rosa Parks boarded that bus on her way home from work, 
she may not have been seeking to start a revolution; she may not have 
been looking to change the world; she may not have been hoping to lead 
a noble cause. Rosa Parks was presented with a choice: to accept the 
restrictions forced on her by false values or to take advantage of the 
opportunity to do the right thing.
  Rosa Parks, right then and there in Montgomery Alabama, decided she 
would not give up her seat that day because as a leader in the NAACP, 
she understood that by accepting the restrictions imposed on her under 
segregation she was only enabling it further. Although she was weary 
from a hard day at work as a seamstress, Rosa Parks found the strength 
to challenge that plague of conformity so that she and others might no 
longer have to endure another day under its agonizing credence.
  In making the choice to stand up to the monstrous ill of segregation, 
Rosa Parks joined heroes that have adorned legendary stories throughout 
the centuries when a common individual displays uncommon valor in the 
name of righteousness and against all odds.
  Rosa Parks set off a chain of events that, over time, would slay that 
dragon of segregation. Her bravery would inspire other common 
individuals moved by the desire to promote equal rights to ban together 
to form an army committed to a mission. Their mission would force a 
society that had accepted an immoral practice to stop and reevaluate 
its priorities and values.
  That day, Rosa Parks did start a revolution. That day, she inspired 
the Civil Rights movement that changed the world. That day she led a 
noble cause that she spent her entire life dedicated to seeing that we 
all have a seat of our choice at mankind's table. It all began with 
Rosa Parks making the choice to stand up for what she knew, in her 
heart, was right. America has reaffirmed that Rosa Parks was ``right'' 
in Montgomery, Alabama and ``right'' still today and in the future.
  On October 25th, 2005, our great American hero, Rosa Parks, died at 
the age of 92 in her adopted home of Detroit, Michigan. While our 
country grieves for the loss of one of its most treasured patriots, we 
can rest assured that the stand Rosa Parks took nearly 50 years ago and 
the contributions she made thereafter, continues to shape and change 
the values of this growing country. We are reminded that we must 
evaluate our priorities and values each day if we are to protect the 
equal rights endowed to us by our Creator. Most of all, as common 
individuals, we are reminded that each of us has the uncommon valor to 
stand up for what is right no matter the consequences because, just 
like Rosa Parks, each of us has a hero within.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, there are many today who may not 
understand today why December 1, 1955, will long be remembered 
throughout American history. That was the day a quiet, somewhat shy, 
42-year old African American seamstress named Rosa Parks was ordered to 
get up and give her seat to a white passenger on a city bus in 
Montgomery, Alabama. For many years, countless times, all day, every 
day, all throughout the American South, African Americans had submitted 
to that humiliating demand. But that one December day, Rosa Parks 
simply refused to get up. It is true, she volunteered for the local 
NAACP chapter in Montgomery, but she had not planned a protest that 
day. She was just trying to get home. She was tired, and she had had 
enough.
  Through that one simple act, Rosa Parks displayed nothing short of 
raw courage. It was dangerous--very dangerous--to defy the customs, 
traditions, and laws of racial discrimination and segregation in the 
South. The Brown v. Board of Education decision had been issued by the 
Supreme Court only 18 months before. In reaction, violence arid 
intimidation erupted all across the South. There was so much tension, 
so much hate. In August of 1955, a 14-year-old African American boy, 
named Emmett Till had been murdered and mutilated by two white men 
while he was visiting his uncle in Money, Mississippi.
  I believe there is a force--call it God or the spirit of history--
that tracks us down and selects us to participate in a cause much 
greater than ourselves. Rosa Parks followed her own compass that day, 
and she allowed herself to be used for good. She could have been 
killed. Instead she was arrested, booked, and taken to jail because she 
would not give up her seat on a public bus. When the African American 
community of Montgomery heard what had happened to the demure and 
beautiful woman they knew as Rosa Parks, the news spread like wildfire. 
And people began to say, ``If Rosa Parks can do it, so can I.''

[[Page H9266]]

  By sitting down, Rosa Parks was standing up, and with her she carried 
the hopes, dreams, aspirations, and yearnings of hundreds and thousands 
of oppressed people. She inspired an entire generation to take a stand 
by sitting-in at lunch counters and restaurants, by standing-in at 
theaters, by integrating public transportation on the Freedom Rides, 
and by organizing voter registration campaigns in the deepest and most 
dangerous part of the South. It was also in response to Rosa Parks' 
protest that a new, young minister named Martin Luther King, Jr. was 
called upon to be the spokesperson and leader of the movement that 
would ultimately become the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
  That one simple, elegant act ignited a powerful non-violent movement 
that changed America forever. So when we pay tribute to Rosa Parks, we 
are saluting more than the mother of the modern day civil rights 
movement. We are honoring one of the founders of the New America, 
perhaps ultimately a founder of the Beloved Community, a truly 
interracial democracy where we lay down the burden of race and class.
  The story of Rosa Parks reminds us that we are all one people, one 
family--the American family, the human family. And she reminds us that 
the actions of one single person have power, power to inspire a 
generation to greatness, power to make presidents, governors and 
members of Congress do what is right, even if they had not intended to. 
Rosa Parks teaches us that no matter what the challenge, even in the 
face of death, sometimes each of us is called upon to stand up, speak 
up, and speak out against the injustice of our day and time. And if we 
do, maybe, just maybe it might change a nation. And if we are as lucky 
as Rosa Parks, maybe it might even change the world.
  Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to help pay tribute 
to one of Alabama's great Civil Rights leaders, Rosa Parks.
  Nearly 50 years ago, Rosa Parks started a quiet, but determined, 
protest against the status quo.
  What began as a principled refusal to give up her seat, grew into a 
movement that has helped change the world.
  All of us assembled here today are beneficiaries of her courage, 
regardless of our race. We're deeply saddened by her passing, but we're 
also humbled by her life and legacy. Our Nation is stronger because of 
her actions.
  Mr. Speaker, yesterday I introduced a resolution recognizing the 50th 
Anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
  Over 60 members of this chamber are co-sponsors of that resolution, 
including all of my colleagues from Alabama.
  It is my hope that resolution will also help honor Rosa Parks, and 
help pay tribute to those who laid the foundations for the modern-day 
Civil Rights movement.
  I thank Mr. Conyers for leading this tribute today, and thank my 
colleagues for their attention to the life and legacy of Rosa Parks.
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, I rise today to acknowledge 
the passing of a great American, the venerable Rosa Louise Parks.
  On a cold afternoon in December 1955, Rosa Parks could not have known 
she would soon become a national symbol and civil rights icon. But in 
standing her ground and demanding her fair and equal treatment on that 
bus in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks became the first lady of civil 
rights and the mother of the freedom movement.
  Her simple action and committed resolve that day empowered a people, 
ignited a movement and changed the course of American history.
  The events that followed Ms. Parks' protest that day--her arrest, the 
Montgomery bus boycott, and the eventual integration of the bus 
system--set the stage for Dr. Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights 
Act.
  As a young college student, I was inspired by the stories of Ms. 
Parks' courageous action. I traveled to the south as a ``freedom ride'' 
in support of the emerging civil rights movement.
  Rosa Parks' courage, determination, and tenacity continue to be an 
inspiration to all those committed to non-violent protest and change 
nearly half a century later. She will be remembered as an everlasting 
symbol and advocate for justice and equality throughout America.
  Thank you Rosa, America will forever be indebted to you.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________