[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 200 (Tuesday, December 5, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H6115]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              POWER OF ONE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Ohio (Mrs. Beatty) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, in honor of the 68th anniversary of the 
Montgomery Bus Boycott, I rise today.
  Mr. Speaker, on December 5, 1955, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began. 
It was a landmark bus boycott that lasted for 381 days following the 
courageous and bold single act of the defiance from Rosa Parks who was 
arrested on December 1, 1955, for refusing to give up her seat to a 
White person on a Montgomery bus.
  Rosa Parks epitomized the incredible power of one person to change 
the course of history. I, along with so many others in this Chamber, 
benefit from her indelible legacy.
  Mr. Speaker, the action of Rosa Parks propelled the challenges of the 
civil rights movement to the forefront of national concern, deeply 
influencing public opinion and ultimately contributing to important 
legislative and societal shifts in this country.
  Mr. Speaker, I was the house leader in the State of Ohio, the first 
Democrat female and Black woman to do such.
  As a young girl growing up, I grew up hearing about Rosa Parks. When 
I was on the house floor then in the State legislature, I thought I 
could make a difference and do something.
  On the day she died, I went to my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle, and Democrats and Republicans came together to make Ohio the 
first State in the United States to have a Rosa Parks Day.
  That was a proud moment for me, that I could stand in the well in the 
statehouse, and Republican colleague Priscilla Mead could stand in the 
well, and we could both declare how important this would be for the 
Nation.
  Today, I stand in another well, asking us to take a look at H. Res. 
308, the Rosa Parks Day Act, sponsored by Congresswoman Terri Sewell, 
Congressman   Steven Horsford, and myself.
  Mr. Speaker, we have well over 100 signatures just in the first week, 
and we are going to continue to try to get signatures for this 
important piece of legislation.
  Just imagine: For 381 days, people did not get on a bus; they walked. 
If they rode in taxies or in cars, they were cars or taxies operated by 
Black Americans.
  It was wrong because, you see, Rosa Parks was not tired that day. We 
want history to be correct. At that time in the 1950s, people of color 
had to sit back as far as the seventh row.

  Rosa was sitting in the seat by the window in the row for people of 
color. When someone got on the bus who was a majority gentleman and had 
to stand, he went to Rosa and asked her to get up out of the seat in 
the section she was supposed to sit in.
  Now, I can imagine that Rosa knew she was going to be arrested 
because she had been warned, and she was not the first to have been 
arrested.
  She sat there so eloquently, and when they said to get up or you will 
be arrested, she got up. She was arrested, she was handcuffed, she was 
fingerprinted, and they took her mug shot.
  That not only sparked her as the leader of the modern day civil 
rights movement, it also propelled a young minister by the name of 
Martin Luther King.
  Today, Mr. Speaker, I would like to think this is a moment in history 
for us to be able to educate my colleagues and all those who are 
witnessing this this morning.
  Lastly, it was on June 5 in 1956 that the Federal court made the 
decision that it was no longer constitutional to segregate the seats on 
public transit.
  When I leave here on Thursday, Mr. Speaker, I will go back to the 
great Third Congressional District of Ohio. For the 18th year, I will 
sponsor the power of one, our Rosa Parks Day.

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