[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6948-6959]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            AUTHORIZING AWARDING OF GOLD MEDAL TO ROSA PARKS

  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 573) to authorize the President to award a gold medal on 
behalf of the Congress to Rosa Parks in recognition of her 
contributions to the Nation, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 573

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

       The Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, 
     Alabama, the first child of James and Leona (Edwards) 
     McCauley.
       (2) Rosa Parks is honored as the ``first lady of civil 
     rights'' and the ``mother of the freedom movement''; her 
     quiet dignity ignited the most significant social movement in 
     the history of the United States.
       (3) Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955, in 
     Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat on a 
     bus to a white man, and her stand for equal rights became 
     legendary.
       (4) News of Rosa Parks' arrest resulted in 42,000 African 
     Americans boycotting Montgomery buses for 381 days beginning 
     on December 5, 1955, until the bus segregation laws were 
     changed on December 21, 1956.
       (5) The United States Supreme Court ruled on November 13, 
     1956, that the Montgomery segregation law was 
     unconstitutional, and on December 20, 1956, Montgomery 
     officials were ordered to desegregate buses.
       (6) The civil rights movement led to the Civil Rights Act 
     of 1964 which broke down the barriers of legal discrimination 
     against African Americans and made equality before the law a 
     reality for all Americans.
       (7) Rosa Parks is the recipient of many awards and 
     accolades for her efforts on behalf of racial harmony, 
     including the Springarn Award, the NAACP's highest honor for 
     civil rights contributions, the Presidential Medal of 
     Freedom, the Nation's highest civilian honor, and the first 
     International Freedom Conductor Award from the National 
     Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
       (8) Rosa Parks has dedicated her life to the cause of 
     universal human rights and truly embodies the love of 
     humanity and freedom.
       (9) Rosa Parks was the first woman to join the Montgomery 
     chapter of the NAACP, was an active volunteer for the 
     Montgomery Voters League, and in 1987 cofounded the Rosa and 
     Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development.
       (10) Rosa Parks, by her quiet courage, symbolizes all that 
     is vital about nonviolent protest; she endured threats of 
     death and persisted as an advocate for the simple, basic 
     lessons she taught the Nation and from which the Nation has 
     benefited immeasurably.
       (11) Rosa Parks, who has resided in the State of Michigan 
     since 1957, has become a living icon for freedom in America.

     SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

       (a) Presentation Authorized.--The President is authorized 
     to award to Rosa Parks, on behalf of the Congress, a gold 
     medal of appropriate design honoring Rosa Parks in 
     recognition of her contributions to the Nation.
       (b) Deisgn and Striking.--For the purposes of the award 
     referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury 
     (in this Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a 
     gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, 
     to be determined by the Secretary.

     SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

       The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of 
     the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2 under such 
     regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, and at a price 
     sufficient to cover the costs thereof, including labor, 
     materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, and 
     the cost of the gold medal.

     SEC. 4. STATUS AS NATIONAL MEDALS.

       The medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals 
     for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.

     SEC. 5. FUNDING.

       (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to 
     be charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise 
     Fund an amount not to exceed $30,000 to pay for the cost of 
     the medals authorized by this Act.
       (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of 
     duplicate bronze medals under section 3 shall be deposited in 
     the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Bachus) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus).
  (Mr. Bachus asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, we are here today to honor the mother of the civil 
rights movement, Rosa Parks. As an Alabamian, I am proud to stand side 
by side with my friends on both sides of the aisle and pay respects to 
a native Alabamian and a civil rights heroine. Before saying more, I 
would also like to commend the bill's author, the gentlewoman from 
Indiana (Ms. Carson), for obtaining well over 290 signatures necessary 
to move this bill to the floor of the House.
  Mr. Speaker, Rosa Parks is an American heroine because she is an 
ordinary citizen with extraordinary courage. She had the fortitude to 
claim for herself the most ordinary, the most basic of civil rights, to 
be treated fairly and equally.
  She was born in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1913. She was the first child of 
James and Leona McCauley.
  Rosa Parks took a heroic stand and refused to give up her seat on a 
bus. Montgomery buses were boycotted for 381 days. After court cases, 
legislative upheaval, the bus segregation laws were changed on December 
21, 1956.
  An aside to that, Mr. Speaker, is that Dr. Martin Luther King was 
appointed spokesman for the bus boycott and taught nonviolence to all 
the participants, and there were over 40,000 participants in that 
boycott.
  But more importantly, Rosa Parks led a prairie fire for freedom which 
helped ignite and inspire the civil rights movement. Ultimately, this 
act of courage played a major role in breaking down the barriers of 
legal discrimination and continues to play a role in making equality an 
imperative goal in America.
  Rosa Parks is the recipient of many awards for her efforts on behalf 
of racial harmony. Among them, the Springarn Award, the NAACP's highest 
honor for civil rights contributions, the Presidential Medal of 
Freedom, the Nation's highest civilian honor, and the first 
International Freedom Conductor Award from the National Underground 
Railroad Freedom Center.
  Rosa Parks has dedicated her life to the cause of universal human 
rights. She truly embodies the spirit of respect for humanity and 
personal freedom that is central to the American ideal.
  Rosa Parks by her quiet courage symbolizes all that is great in the 
American spirit. She endured threats of death in defending and 
demanding for all the most basic rights embodied in the Constitution 
and the Bill of Rights. This Nation has benefited immeasurably from her 
heroic efforts, and the U.S. Congress is proud to celebrate her 
achievements by awarding her the Congressional Gold Medal.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentlewoman 
from Indiana (Ms. Carson) be permitted to control 10 minutes of the 
time allocated to me.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, every now and then God places in our midst an angel, a 
human being of extraordinary character and immeasurable compassion with 
the energy and courage to fuel their undying commitment to justice. 
Rosa Parks is that person. Rosa Parks is that angel, a woman of divine 
inspiration who, on December 1, 1955, refused to move from

[[Page 6949]]

the white only section of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. When she was 
told to move to the back of the bus, she was arrested.
  Rosa Parks was a working woman, a seamstress of very modest means. 
She had neither political power nor influence. She simply had the 
courage of her convictions. Mrs. Parks did not move to the back of the 
bus. She took a stand.
  She was arrested. Her arrest sparked a revolution on December 5, 
1955. The defiant spirit of Rosa Parks ignited the long suppressed 
longing for freedom, and the contagious sparks of new possibilities 
sailed through the Montgomery air. Men, women and children decided they 
would no longer suffer the indignities of a city that discriminated 
against them, marginalized them, brutalized and disrespected them.
  Montgomery's most egregious manifestation of segregation was in 
public transportation, in particular the bus company where African 
Americans were cursed and sometimes assaulted by bus drivers without 
provocation, forced to board from the rear door after depositing the 
fare in the driver's box and then often left behind after paying their 
fare, strictly forbidden from ever sitting in the first four rows 
reserved for whites.
  Black pride and self-determination took hold. Blacks got off the bus 
and the plantation. Blacks carpooled, blacks walked, blacks found a way 
to get around without bus transportation. They boycotted.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the 
gentlewoman from Kentucky (Mrs. Northup).
  Mrs. NORTHUP. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to encourage and to applaud 
Congress for putting this resolution before us to honor Rosa Parks. 
Rosa Parks changed the course of history when, on December 1, 1955, she 
refused to give up her seat to a white man. The fact is I would like to 
think that there were white folks in her city that wanted things to 
change, that wanted equal opportunity and equal access and equal rights 
to all parts of society in her community, but they did not act.
  Rosa Parks did act, and she had the courage, the quiet courage, to 
make a profound difference. By her actions, she encouraged and created 
a movement that was largely credited for passage of the 1964 Civil 
Rights Act in the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
  Today we still do not have the harmony that we seek in this country. 
We are still not a country that has figured out how to live together 
with all the good and best interests for every child, every individual 
in this country.
  Rosa Parks served as an inspiration to us in 1955. I hope that by 
awarding this congressional medal she will continue to serve as an 
inspiration to all of us and to our children.
  Many times today people do not believe that one person can make a 
difference. They feel cynical and they feel hopeless and helpless, and 
because of that, they do not act.
  So, as we award this medal, maybe what Rosa Parks did will give us 
all courage and confidence that one person does make a difference and 
that if we are to have equality and a common sense of good and love 
across racial lines, that all of us have to stand up and take that 
action, that courageous action that Rosa Parks did.
  Ms. CARSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, first I would like to thank the other 329 Members of the 
106th Congress who joined me in unprecedented numbers to award the 
Congressional Medal of Honor to the Honorable Rosa Parks, a human being 
extraordinaire.
  This is my first bill that I will pass from Congress, and there is no 
better way for me to inaugurate my service in the United States 
Congress than to introduce a bill that will give a Congressional Gold 
Medal to Rosa Parks. Her courage propelled her to great heights. She is 
profiled as the leader of the century by major news media universally.

                              {time}  1430

  Her selflessness embraced the spirit of the British National Anthem: 
``My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty.''
  Mrs. Parks in Montgomery, Alabama, sought to, tried to validate this 
pledge of ours, one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all 
people. Her steadfastness and unmovable decision revisited the words of 
Abraham Lincoln, the great emancipator, in his Gettysburg Address, that 
we would have a government of the people, by the people and for the 
people.
  Mrs. Parks, thank you very much for watching this long-delayed honor 
by the United States Congress in celebration of your 86th birthday 
present. What a great present, Mrs. Parks, for the United States 
Congress to give to you in this particular way.
  I am grateful for your steadfastness, your perseverance, the kind of 
contribution that you made to America almost 44 years ago, and it is 
because of your good work and your determination, the fact that you 
sacrificed yourself and went to jail. And a woman that was not of 
color, Mrs. Virginia Foster Durr, who was known as the matron of the 
civil rights movement, bailed Mrs. Parks out, which underscored that 
there were people who were not people of color necessarily who came to 
the forefront to ensure that justice prevails.
  So, Mrs. Parks, while you watch this live from California and while 
both you and I are alive to see it pass, I want to publicly, for 
America, thank you very much, Rosa Parks.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Rodriguez).


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pease). Members are reminded that their 
remarks are to be addressed only to the Chair.
  Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Mr. Speaker, today we pay tribute to a great civil 
rights leader, Rosa Parks. It was a great honor to see Rosa Parks at 
the State of the Union address earlier this year. Looking up at her in 
the gallery, sitting there with the First Lady and other distinguished 
guests, it gave me great pride and reminded me of what America is and 
how great it is.
  The Gold Medal is a fitting tribute. Congress has honored more than 
100 great Americans and world citizens, including George Washington and 
most recently Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela. It is the highest 
award that can be given by Congress and we know that she deserves the 
Gold Medal of Honor.
  Mr. Speaker, today we pay tribute to a great civil rights leader as 
we prepare to vote on awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Rosa 
Parks. Her quiet, non-violent refusal to adhere to racist segregation 
helped break open the flood gates of freedom in this country. That act 
put us all on the road to a more equal society and to an integrated 
society.
  It was a great honor to see Rosa Parks in person as a guest of the 
President at the State of the Union address earlier this year. Looking 
up at her in the gallery, sitting with the First Lady and other 
distinguished guests, gave me great pride and reminded me why America 
is the land of great potential.
  The Gold Medal is a fitting tribute. Congress has honored more than 
100 great Americans and world citizens, including George Washington and 
most recently Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela. The highest award 
given by Congress to civilians, it is my honor to be a co-sponsor and 
supporter of this legislation.
  Since that historic day on December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, 
when she took a stand against a fundamentally unfair and immoral 
system, Rosa Parks has served as a source of inspiration and courage to 
those who continue the struggle for civil rights and equality for all 
Americans. She taught us that one individual can make a profound 
difference, that one individual can bring down the walls of division in 
our society, that one individual can clear the path to a better 
tomorrow. Rosa Parks has earned this medal.
  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Ohio (Ms. Pryce).
  Ms. PRYCE of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the resolution 
of the gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. Carson), authorizing a 
Congressional Gold Medal for Rosa Parks in recognition of her 
contributions to this Nation.
  Rosa Parks is known as both the first lady of civil rights and the 
mother of the civil rights movement.

[[Page 6950]]

  She began to earn these titles back in 1955 for her courageous 
refusal to comply with the Montgomery, Alabama, law which required her 
to give up her seat on a public bus for a white man. For this, she was 
thrown in jail. However, an interesting historic footnote is that Rosa 
Parks was ejected from a bus further back in time, in 1943, for 
entering through the front door instead of the back door as then 
prescribed by the law.
  To protest the segregated public bus system and Rosa Parks' arrest, a 
fledgling civil rights group, the Montgomery Improvement Association, 
organized a historic boycott of the Montgomery, Alabama buses, led by a 
young civil rights leader named Martin Luther King, Jr. The boycott 
lasted 381 days.
  Thanks to Rosa Parks' conviction and the steady determination of the 
civil rights movement, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the 
Montgomery, Alabama, segregated seating law and the buses were legally 
integrated.
  Mr. Speaker, many history books stop there, but I believe it is 
important to note that Rosa Parks' courageous stand was not without 
cost to her and to her family. Rosa Parks was harassed continuously. 
She lost her job. Her husband lost his job and suffered a nervous 
breakdown. Rosa Parks and her husband could not find work anywhere near 
Montgomery, so they moved to Detroit where her husband had to be 
hospitalized further.
  Ultimately, Rosa Parks began working for the congressional office of 
our colleague, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), and she still 
remains active to this day in the civil rights movement.
  Mr. Speaker, as we fast forward to today, I find it amazing how much 
we take for granted thanks to Rosa Parks' courageous stand almost 45 
years ago. For this reason, I urge all of my colleagues to support this 
resolution. I congratulate my colleague from Indiana (Ms. Carson) for 
introducing it.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
Ohio (Mrs. Jones).
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate the awarding of 
the Congressional Gold Medal to Mrs. Rosa Parks. Reverend Dr. Martin 
Luther King once said that anybody can be great because anybody can 
serve. You do not have to have a college degree to serve. You do not 
have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You do not have 
to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You only need a heart 
full of grace and a soul generated by love.
  In 1955, at the time of Mrs. Parks' heroic act, I was 6 years old, a 
daughter of a skycap and a factory worker, a student of the civil 
rights movement and now, thank God, a Congresswoman, able to vote to 
award the Congressional Gold Medal to Rosa Parks. I only hope that many 
young people, African-American, Caucasian, Asian, Indian, Hispanic, 
brown, black, white or yellow, will continue to be inspired by the 
integrity and work of Mrs. Rosa Parks and will be willing to stand and 
make a public gesture.
  Mr. BACHUS, Mr. Speaker, I am honored to yield 1 minute to my fellow 
Alabaman and friend, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Hilliard)
  Mr. HILLIARD. Mr. Speaker, I have the great good fortune of having 
known Mrs. Rosa Parks for many years. It was in my congressional 
district that she lived and it was in my congressional district that 
she refused to move to the back of the bus.
  Rosa Parks' courage ignited a movement. Her courage provided the 
spark for a movement that was smoldering. I am a personal benefactor of 
Mrs. Parks' act and I am very grateful to her.
  Rosa Parks was an ordinary citizen who performed an extraordinary act 
which changed America in a positive way forever. Rosa Parks is an 
American hero. As my Spelman College sisters would say, she is an 
American she-ro.
  To Mrs. Parks, I say thank you for not moving to the back of the bus. 
Thank you for a lifetime of service to civil rights. I am humbled and 
deeply grateful for this opportunity to personally say to you I 
appreciate your courage.
  Mr. Speaker, America is a better place because Rosa Parks came its 
way.
  Ms. CARSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick), in whose district Mrs. Parks is now a legal 
resident.
  Ms. KILPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentlewoman 
from Indiana (Ms. Carson) for yielding me this time on this very 
special day as we honor one of America's greatest heroes, she-roes, I 
might add, Mrs. Rosa Parks. As was mentioned, Mrs. Parks lives in my 
district in Michigan. She came to my district as she left Alabama and 
for all of these years has been a hero of courage and inspiration for 
all of us, near and afar.
  I am here today to add my voice to those who have said, let us award 
Mrs. Parks a medal that is long overdue, the highest honor that this 
body can offer, the Congressional Gold Medal. I am here further to ask 
for something again. Mrs. Parks in 1987 established the Raymond and 
Rosa Parks Institute in Michigan. She cared for and assisted hundreds 
of children across America to learn about civil rights, to learn about 
their history.
  We are asking in this budget year, fiscal year 2000, in the Labor-HHS 
budget for $3 million for the Raymond and Rosa Parks Institute for 
Self-Development so she can continue inspiring and motivating children. 
I hope this body will accept and adopt the appropriation. It is just a 
small amount of what has already been put in through her courage, 
through her work and through the funds that we have collected over the 
last 10 years. Let us support the Raymond and Rosa Parks Institute for 
Self-Development so that our children can know, as we have lived 
through this 20th Century, that as we move forward, let us take the 
spirit of Raymond and Rosa Parks with us and fund the institute 
adequately.
  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, over 40 years ago, Rosa Parks, a 
Montgomery, Alabama seamstress, showed how one woman, no matter what 
her background, can light a spark which changes the world. By refusing 
to give up her bus seat to a white man on a dark December day in 1955, 
Rosa Parks defied the oppressive legal system of segregation and set 
off a bus boycott that became one of the first victories in the civil 
rights revolution of the '50s and the '60s. For this brave stand for 
liberty and her many other contributions to our Nation and her 
community, she definitely deserves the Congressional Gold Medal which 
we are voting to award her today.
  Her heroic action resulted in her arrest and the loss of her job, but 
the ensuing struggle resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling just a 
year later which declared that the Montgomery segregation law was 
unconstitutional and that Montgomery officials must desegregate their 
bus system.
  This courageous act changed her life and our Nation forever, but it 
did not change the character and the humility of Rosa Parks, who still 
shuns the spotlight and has never sought the recognition which she so 
richly deserves. After moving to Detroit in 1957, in which she 
continued to work hard for the many causes which benefited both our 
Nation and her community, she worked for the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Conyers), running his Detroit office until her retirement in 1988.
  Rosa Parks also founded the Detroit-based Raymond and Rosa Parks 
Institute for Self-Development, which helps young people gain self-
esteem through a variety of programs, as well as assists them with 
their education.
  By honoring Rosa Parks today, we are also endorsing her message which 
she so eloquently addressed in her book ``Quiet Strength: The Faith, 
the Hope and the Heart of a Woman Who Changed a Nation.'' It ends with 
a plea for people of all races to work together for a world free of 
violence and racism, where all races and religions unite to improve the 
quality of life for everyone. Amen.

[[Page 6951]]

  Passage of this bill will be our contribution to her legacy today.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman 
from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Waters) for yielding, and I thank her and the sponsors of this bill for 
putting it forward at this time.
  This body seeks to honor a woman upon whom honors have been heaped. 
It is worth asking, why so many honors? What is her personal appeal, 
beyond what she has accomplished? It is worth asking why it is that 
this is such a revered woman of our times. I think it is for much the 
same reason that we honor Nelson Mandela.
  Three reasons: First, courage against overwhelming odds; two, the 
action that few would have taken, remember, this was Alabama, circa 
1955; and, three, modesty. She claimed to be too tired to move to the 
back of the bus. The fact is she had complained of segregation and had 
spoken of being tired of segregation for years.
  It was bravery, Mr. Speaker. Two huge and historic effects flow from 
her act. Her act led to the Supreme Court decision barring segregation 
in public transportation and, of course, she sparked an entire 
movement, the Montgomery bus movement.
  Those of us who participated in the sit-in movement regard the day of 
the college sit-ins as when that movement began. In point of fact, that 
movement began when Rosa Parks sat where she insisted on sitting. The 
Congressional Gold Medal cannot add glory to a woman who has never 
sought it. We can only express our appreciation through this medal 
today.
  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from 
New York (Mr. Gilman).

                              {time}  1445

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time.
  I am pleased to join today with the gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. 
Carson) and the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus) as a cosponsor of 
this long-overdue legislation honoring Rosa Parks with the 
Congressional Gold Medal. Mrs. Parks is a courageous woman, a woman who 
stood up for justice and equality, and in the process, changed the 
course of our Nation's history.
  In the early 1950s, blacks were still facing the hardships inflicted 
by segregation. The term ``separate but equal'' was not really equal, 
but rather a loophole used to deny rights to blacks. This began to 
change, though, in Montgomery, Alabama on December 5, 1955 when Mrs. 
Parks, then a passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, refused to give 
up her seat to a white passenger on that bus. She was promptly arrested 
for violating a city law requiring that whites and blacks sit in 
separate rows on buses. Mrs. Parks' courage triggered a boycott of the 
entire Montgomery bus system. That lasted for almost a full year, until 
the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregated seating on the city's buses 
unconstitutional.
  While Mrs. Parks' refusal to relinquish her seat on that December day 
and the ensuing boycott ended in success, the effects of her actions 
were much more far-reaching. Specifically, the boycott's success 
triggered the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and in addition, it 
paved the way for the boycott organization's President, Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr., to press forward for full racial equality.
  Mrs. Parks' efforts were integral to the civil rights movement, and 
it is my pleasure to be associated with this legislation presenting 
Rosa Parks with the Congressional Gold Medal.
  Ms. CARSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Conyers).
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. 
Carson); my colleague, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), the 
remaining civil rights leader that worked with Dr. King and Rosa Parks 
for many years, and to all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle 
and both sides of the Capitol.
  Now, there are several reasons why Rosa Parks' name can be lifted up 
with such eloquence today. First is that she developed this theory that 
applies to every human being that struggles for justice: ``I am only 
one person, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do 
something.'' For her to sit down on the bus that day was an enormously 
courageous act that still thrills the world when they realize this 
seamstress had determined what she would do, not with Dr. King, not 
with the civil rights movement, not with the NAACP, not with anyone.
  Secondly, she, by her act, brought Dr. King into the movement, and we 
will have more on that very shortly. But that an oppressed people could 
take upon themselves to change the de jure and de facto status of race 
relations by their own action was thought to be impossible by many at 
that time.
  Finally, it was the theory of nonviolence that a woman faced with 
violent oppressors could say, ``You can do whatever you want.'' 
Remember, the bus driver begged her to please sit down. And the theory 
of nonviolence later enunciated by Dr. Martin Luther King makes the 
Gold Medal a very appropriate response to her today.
  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, we have heard speaker after speaker who has 
described how Rosa Parks' quiet and courageous act changed America and 
redirected the course of history, and for that we are all for the 
better.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. 
Lewis), one of the leaders of that movement.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend and 
colleague from Alabama, my native State, for yielding me this time.
  On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks sat down on a bus in Montgomery, 
Alabama and refused to give up her seat to a white man. By sitting 
down, Rosa Parks was standing up. With dignity, with pride, and with 
one simple defining act, she began a nonviolent revolution in the 
American south, a nonviolent revolution that swept across America and 
swept aside segregation and the laws that divided us into two nations, 
one black and one white.
  As a 15-year-old boy growing up in rural Alabama, 50 miles from 
Montgomery, I was deeply inspired, moved and touched by this simple act 
of civil disobedience. Rosa Parks taught me and an entire generation 
the power that one individual can have in standing up for what is right 
and for what is just.
  The history books of the civil rights movement will recall Rosa Parks 
as one of the founders of the new America. This woman, this one woman, 
was tracked down by the spirit of history. She saw indignity and she 
exposed it. She saw inequality and she confronted it. She saw injustice 
and she defeated it.
  So, Mr. Speaker, it is fitting and appropriate that we honor Rosa 
Parks by awarding her the Congressional Gold Medal. By honoring Rosa 
Parks, we honor all of us. We honor America. We honor unborn 
generations.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Cummings).
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me 
this time.
  Mr. Speaker, Congressional Gold Medals are awarded to individuals who 
have made significant contributions to our Nation or humanity. Why 
bestow this honor on a woman who refused to give up her seat in the 
white section of a segregated Montgomery bus? The answer is very 
simple. Rosa Parks' selfless fortitude became the symbol of a 
commitment to freedom, equality and justice that paved the way to the 
end of legal segregation in America.
  As we salute our matriarch of civil rights, I am reminded of the 
words of Dr. King: ``We are caught up in an inescapable network of 
mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.''
  Mrs. Parks recognized that in order for our Nation to move from what 
it has been to what it can be, our garment of destiny must be tightly 
woven with the policies of justice and inclusion as opposed to 
discrimination and separation. Again, I congratulate Mrs. Parks for her 
heroism, and challenge all Americans to embrace her concept of freedom 
and equality for all people.

[[Page 6952]]


  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent for an additional 20 
minutes on this measure, 10 minutes to myself and 5 minutes to each of 
the gentlewomen.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pease). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from Alabama?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Horn).
  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, I think every American over 45 years of age 
remembers the heroic stand that Rosa Parks took. That stand inspired 
the Nation, and the inspiration of the Nation ultimately inspired 
Congress--both the House and the Senate.
  She did this at the beginning of the last half of the decade of the 
1950s. She set an example of what one person can do to change a Nation. 
And she did change a Nation, because from her act of resistence on a 
segregated bus and the organization that followed led to the role of 
Dr. Martin Luther King. Rosa Parks gave recognition to all who might 
have doubted about conditions in the South.
  Of course, the Supreme Court ruled that what she fought was 
unconstitutional, and that was one of the many particular state 
segregation laws that the Supreme Court of the United States struck 
down in the decade of the 1950s and the 1960s.
  There was still going to be a longer struggle ahead. I was on the 
Senate staff at that time working on these bills. The Civil Rights Act 
of 1964 was certainly one of them. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was 
another.
  Rosa Parks' definance showed that black Americans--African-
Americans--could organize themselves, could do the right thing in line 
with the Constitution. That is exactly what her inspiration meant. 
Whether it was segregation in the South or in the North, or in the 
West, or in the East, no group would stand for any form of 
discrimination against any group because of their race, color or creed.
  She began with the defiance of one human being. She deserves the 
Congressional Gold Medal. Few Americans have had an impact which 
touched this country and put it on the right course as has Rosa Parks.
  Mr. Speaker, I would certainly hope that all Members will support 
this particular resolution. It is a vital example of the impact one can 
have in the legislative process. Martin Luther King had a great impact, 
but he would not have had that impact if it were not for the actions of 
Rosa Parks, showing that there will be no more discrimination on the 
buses of Montgomery, Alabama.
  What Rosa Parks did is a good lesson in civics for every American: 
one person can make a difference in our government. She did. She has. 
We should recognize that significant accomplishment which changed our 
nation.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton).
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California 
for yielding me this time. I want to commend her, and I want to commend 
the gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. Carson) for her leadership and 
persistence in this bill.
  I rise today to join my colleagues in this House in paying tribute to 
Rosa Parks, the mother of the civil rights movement. All of us will 
recite the facts, but they cannot be recited enough.
  On a cold day in December 1955, Rosa Parks decided that she would sit 
down in order to stand up and stand up for America. She sat down to 
stand up for equal rights for all across this Nation. The quiet ``no'' 
of this gentle southern lady to the demand that she give up her bus 
seat to a white man gave a new meaning to the word ``courage.''
  The courage of this ordinary seamstress who worked in a department 
store pricked the conscience of the Nation in an extraordinary way. As 
the bus boycott mounted, activity came to a screeching halt and the 
world stopped and paid attention.
  Rosa Parks spoke quietly, but the whole world heard and understood 
that it was indeed time for a change. She took a stand that will be 
forever remembered and appreciated by people all across this Nation. 
And thanks to Rosa Parks, I now stand proudly as a Congresswoman here, 
able to pay tribute to her and to do business for the American people.

                              {time}  1500

  I intend later to vote, as I hope all of my colleagues will, for the 
Congressional Medal of Honor to go to a most worthy American. Few 
people are deserving of such an honor. Rosa Parks indeed is.
  I again commend my colleague, the gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. Julia 
Carson) for introducing this measure and being persistent, and because 
of that we are here today. All of us should pass this unanimously.
  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Maryland (Mrs. Morella).
  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to 
me.
  Mr. Speaker, I am really delighted to be here as this resolution 
comes before us. I was one of the original cosponsors, and I want to 
add my accolades to the gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. Carson) for 
introducing the legislation and persevering, on both sides of the 
aisle, so we have a bipartisan measure before us.
  Mr. Speaker, Rosa Parks, the mother of the civil rights movement, 
with one simple act of defiance in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks set 
off a revolution that made this country live up to its constitutional 
ideals.
  When Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior, proclaimed his famous ``I have a 
dream speech'' atop the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he lay before 
America a vision of a society free of hatred and inequality. Rosa Parks 
provided the initial spark for this broad movement on December 1, 1955, 
by bravely refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger after 
a long day of work.
  Mr. Speaker, today we celebrate her courage with the passage of 
legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal to this remarkable 
woman. Her action helped to trigger the civil rights movement. Rosa 
Parks' simple refusal brought her, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 
arduous struggle for equality to the attention of our Nation.
  In a later interview, Mrs. Parks stated that during critical moments 
on the bus she felt determined to take the opportunity ``to let it be 
known that I did not want to be treated in that manner, and that people 
had endured it for far too long.''
  The leadership, confidence, and faith that she displayed was a 
glorious achievement. Rosa Parks' courageous act was one of tremendous 
significance. Her outstanding accomplishment deserves to be recognized 
by a Congressional Gold Medal.
  I am proud to join with my colleagues today in support of H.R. 573, 
recognizing the contribution that Rosa Parks has made to our society. 
Today we join together to salute her courage. But let us also renew our 
commitment to work together for a more just and equitable society.
  Ms. CARSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Tavis Smiley, who is a great commentator across the country, said 
something last week that I will never forget. He said that each of us 
must live for a cause, and not just because. Rosa Parks emulates that 
spirit in a very profound way, and Tavis Smiley does, too.
  Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman 
from the State of Texas (Ms. Sheila Jackson-Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from 
Indiana for her eloquence and for her leadership, and to the ranking 
member and the chairman, I thank them both for their guidance on this 
very important legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, is it not a great day that we rise to the Floor of the 
House in a bipartisan and collaborative way to acknowledge Rosa Parks, 
to give her her due, the Congressional Gold Medal? It is important that 
we acknowledge that when Rosa Parks sat down, for all of the young 
people of America who were born after this most heroic act, in a 
segregated Alabama, almost frightened for her life, America won.

[[Page 6953]]

  The most important thing that happened, and my colleague, the 
gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. Carson) has lived it in her life, is that 
we infused into America the best of what America stands for, and that 
is, the human resolve to change what is evil and what is wrong.
  Forty-two thousand people entered into a Montgomery boycott of the 
buses because of the quiet spirit of Rosa Parks. Again, I say to the 
young people, when Rosa Parks sat down, America won.
  So today I am most honored to be able to stand and join my colleagues 
in acknowledging that many of us whould not be here today, would not be 
on the Floor of the House, would not have the opportunity, had Rosa 
Parks not sparked the infusion of energy that brought about the civil 
rights movement in this country, that helped to gel it, that helped to 
give those who were moving towards it the courage to stand up and be 
counted.
  We would not have had the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Civil Rights 
Act of 1964, the Affirmative Action Executive order of Richard Nixon, 
the opening of doors of institutions of higher learning, none of that 
would have occurred without Rosa Parks.
  So I say to Rosa, wherever she might be today, my sister, the mother 
of civil rights, thank you for giving me the opportunity to stand free 
in America and to stand with my brothers and sisters today.
  Rosa Parks said in her book, when she decided not to stand up and to 
remain in her seat, it was not a selfish viewpoint. She said, I did not 
feel any fear. All I felt was tired, tired of being pushed around, 
tired of seeing the bad treatment and disrespect of children, Mr. 
Speaker, women, and men, just because of the color of their skin.
  Mr. Speaker, I am honored today to now stand up for Rosa Parks as she 
stood up for all of us to win. With this vote and this honor given to 
Rosa Parks today, America wins always.
  Mr. Speaker, I stand here today with my Colleagues to honor a true 
American's-hero, Rosa Parks. Today, we come one step closer to giving 
the ``Mother of the Civil Rights Movement'' the honor she is due by 
voting to award Ms. Park the Congressional Medal of Honor.
  Rosa Parks embodies the spirit of American Freedom and is wholly 
deserving of this honor. Her single act of courage was the catalyst 
that transformed this land from a nation divided to a nation striving 
for unity.
  Rosa Parks's story is familiar to us all. On December 1, 1955, she 
boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, paid her fare and took a seat. As 
the bus got crowded, Ms. Parks was ordered to give up her seat by the 
bus driver for a white man. She refused and was arrested. Her simple 
refusal to give up her seat initiated the Montgomery bus boycott that 
began the Civil Rights Movement.
  In her book, Quiet Strength, Ms. Parks reflected on her feelings when 
she refused to give up her seat, ``When I sat down on the bus the day I 
was arrested, I was thinking of going home. I made up my mind quickly 
about what it was that I had to do, what I felt was right to do . . . I 
did not feel any fear. . . All I felt was tired. Tired of being pushed 
around. Tired of seeing the bad treatment and disrespect of children, 
women and men just because of the color of their skin.''
  In her quiet manner, Rosa Parks ignited a spark of defiance, of civil 
disobedience that has been the hallmark of the Civil Rights Movement. 
Today, we are all grateful that Ms. Parks had the courage and the faith 
to do what was right.
  It is past time that Congress recognizes and honors this American 
legend. Rosa Parks has earned her place in history as a brave heroine 
for her lifelong dedication to civil rights.
  It is with great honor and privilege that I support H.R. 573, 
awarding the Congressional Medal of Honor an American legend, Rosa 
Parks.


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pease). Members are reminded to address 
their remarks to the chair.
  Ms. CARSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield the remainder of my time to the 
gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), a young man who has done so 
much in terms of aiding me in getting this to where we are.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Indiana for 
yielding time to me, and salute her for her work and effort in bringing 
this matter before the United States House of Representatives. I also 
appreciate that she called me young. That was very nice; not true, but 
very nice.
  Mr. Speaker, in the 105th Congress we honored Nelson Mandela, the 
father of the struggle for freedom and equality in South Africa, with 
Congress' highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal. Now, in the 
106th Congress, we have the opportunity to bestow a similar honor on 
Rosa Parks, the mother of the American struggle for freedom, our civil 
rights movement.
  Through the simple act of keeping her seat on a Montgomery bus in 
1955, Rosa Parks stood for the hopes of a people and a Nation. In a 
1958 speech, Martin Luther King, Jr., said and I quote, ``You would 
never have heard of Martin Luther King if it had not been for Rosa 
Parks and the humble people of Montgomery, Alabama, who decided to walk 
in dignity, rather than ride in disgrace.''
  Rosa Parks symbolizes the greatness in all of us and our ability to 
rise above our circumstances to achieve the extraordinary. One brave 
act of humble greatness triggered an avalanche of change which helped 
our country fulfill its commitment to equal rights for all Americans, 
regardless of race, regardless of anything.
  For her leadership and her example, Rosa Parks deserves to be honored 
with this Congressional Gold Medal. I am very proud of all of the 
Members who cosponsored this resolution. I am very proud of all of the 
Members in both the Democratic and Republican Party who stood with 
their names for this resolution.
  I want to salute my colleague, the gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. 
Julia Carson) for her efforts in bringing this matter to the Floor of 
the Congress. I want to thank the leadership on the Republican side for 
helping to bring this to the Congress.
  This act today is in the highest tradition of this great body. We 
salute together, as one voice, the example, the life, the bravery, the 
courage, of Rosa Parks, who made this country and everybody in it 
better.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Meeks).
  Mr. MEEKS of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a 
lady, and I mean a lady in every sense of the word, Ms. Rosa Parks. 
Forty years ago Mrs. Parks, in her quiet, gentle way, said enough is 
enough. Forty years ago Mrs. Parks sat down so others could stand up 
for freedom, justice, and equality. Forty years ago this gentle lady 
gave birth to a movement that broke the chains of Jim Crowism and its 
ugly, cruel, and inhuman ways.
  Her actions on that fateful day in December of 1955 set forth a chain 
of events for which every citizen, black, white, Latino and Asian, Jew 
and Gentile, everyone of this great country will be forever in her 
debt.
  I cannot express how her act of heroism has impacted my life 
personally. Growing up in public housing in New York City, she inspired 
me as a young child to join the fight for freedom and to always stand 
up for dignity and justice. Her quiet, gentle actions commanded that 
every man, woman, and child has the right to be treated with dignity 
and respect, not how the Jim Crow regime perceived many or all African 
Americans to be, less than human.
  I do not know where we would have been today without this great 
woman, for without Ms. Parks there would not have been a Montgomery bus 
boycott. Without the Montgomery bus boycott there might not have been a 
Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Without the Southern 
Christian Leadership Conference, we would not have known Dr. Martin 
Luther King in the manner that we have known him and the contributions 
he has made to this great Nation.
  Back in 1955 there were only three Members, three African American 
Members of this body. Now we stand 39 strong, and in large part it is 
due to this woman. Mr. Speaker, I say that no one is more deserving to 
receive the Congressional Medal of Honor than Ms. Rosa Parks.
  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Kingston).

[[Page 6954]]


  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to 
me.
  Mr. Speaker, I stand in strong support of this measure. I am 
certainly glad we are doing it in the bipartisan fashion that we are.
  We often describe Rosa Parks as a civil rights hero, and as noble as 
civil rights heroes are, sometimes we forget that they are, in a larger 
sense, American heroes belonging to all of us. In fact, she is a true 
American hero, an American hero who has had an impact on all of us 
simply by one act of not leaving her seat. In doing so, she exploded 
into society a concept of full participation into the American 
institutions, so that not just people would be sitting next to each 
other on buses, but riding the same cabs, sitting in the same 
restaurants, and perhaps, most importantly, so children would be 
sitting next to children in schools.
  I know. I entered the school system in Athens, Georgia, in 1962 in an 
all-white school system. We had white schools and we had black schools. 
Then when I was in fifth grade, Talmadge Vernell Wilson, the one black 
child, was in our class. There were four classes, four fifth grade 
classes, with a black child in each class. There were still white and 
black schools, but we were integrated. Yet by the time I graduated from 
high school in 1973, there were no more black schools and no more white 
schools.
  That became ancient history because of the brave determination of 
people like Rosa Parks. She broke the barriers, and led the way for 
other boycotts and other icebreakers who would go in and bravely stand 
up, speak out, sit down, or whatever it took to bring the changes that 
needed to be made in the 1950s, 1960, and 1970s.
  In ancient Rome the tradition of the Cincinnatus, the citizen hero 
soldier who stood up, who left his plow, fought the war, and then went 
back to being a citizen, that is what Rosa Parks was, a civilian, a 
citizen, a nonprofessional who happened to put what was right above her 
own needs.
  As Robert Frost said in his poem, the Road Less Traveled, by not 
taking the road popular but taking the road less traveled, it made all 
the difference. By doing the brave thing, the uncomfortable thing, the 
thing that probably millions wanted to do but perhaps were scared or 
had reasons not to do, Rosa Parks did, and Mr. Speaker, that made all 
the difference.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Brown.)

                              {time}  1515

  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, to whom God has given much, much 
is expected. I rise today to say thank you, Mrs. Parks, on behalf of 
the residents of my district and the people of the State of Florida, 
for your unselfish commitment to civil rights.
  This country is a better place because of her courage. Rosa Parks is 
a hero. I hope that we consider this Congressional Medal of Honor a 
first step in finally recognizing Mrs. Parks for her role in our 
Nation's history.
  Mrs. Parks, wherever you are, we love you, we thank you, and we stand 
on your great shoulders.
  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I simply say that is it not ironic that Mrs. Parks, by remaining 
seated, stood up for all of us and for our right to fair treatment and 
to equality. For that, we are a better country and a better people. 
This is a just and overdue honor.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of the time to the gentleman from 
Oklahoma (Mr. Watts).
  Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, I commend the gentlewoman from 
Michigan (Ms. Carson) for her resolution, and I was honored to work 
with her to get this resolution to the floor.
  Today, Mr. Speaker, the people's House celebrates and honors the 
courage of one woman, Mrs. Rosa Parks. On December 1, 1955, she refused 
to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
  Her arrest ignited a chain of defiance throughout the South. Perhaps 
the most important lessen we can all learn of our triumph over 
segregation is that one person has the power to start a movement to 
right a wrong.
  But today nearly 45 years later is an equally important day, because 
today marks a day of great reconciliation for our Nation. In 44 years 
we are transformed from a country bitterly and violently divided along 
color lines into a country that unites to honor the courage of one 
black woman.
  I am honored to stand on the floor of the United States House of 
Representatives representing the great State of Oklahoma and 
introducing this resolution, which already has overwhelming bipartisan 
support, to honor Mrs. Parks. A woman who has been considered a heroine 
for African-Americans is today a heroine for all Americans.
  The United States of America, the greatest democracy the world has 
ever known, is a country of laws, not of men. However, our laws have 
not always protected all of its citizens.
  The South's ``Jim Crow'' laws oppressed its African-American citizens 
and undermined the very spirit of our democracy. Although segregation 
subverted the integrity of equal justice under law, it cannot diminish 
the most indelible element of democracy: that one man, one woman can 
stand in the face of injustice and change a Nation. This is the legacy 
of Mrs. Parks.
  Often courage is not deliberate, but rather quiet, unexpected, and 
subtle. Frequently, maybe daily, we all face simple dilemmas that 
require us to decide to either follow the pack or forge our own path.
  It would have been easy enough for Mrs. Parks to get up and take a 
back row seat. It would have been simple enough for her to comply with 
the status quo and relinquish her seat. After all, it was only a seat 
in a bus, a bus she took back and forth every day. It would have been 
easy enough.
  However, I believe true courage and heroism does not necessarily 
emerge from the monumental challenges of life but rather from the 
simple ones. It is easy to let an insult go, easy to yield in an 
argument, easy to acquiesce, and it would have been easy to give up a 
seat on the bus in Alabama in 1955, but we are here today to honor a 
woman who chose not to make the easy choice.
  It is the people who choose not to make the easy decisions who change 
hearts, who change minds, who change history. We should all have the 
courage not to make the easy choices, for true democracy depends on 
those who choose their own path.
  Democracy is a fragile concept. It is one that rests equally on the 
shoulders of each individual. Therefore, if one person's liberty is 
threatened, then everyone's liberty is at risk.
  People like Mrs. Parks ensure democracy for all of us, because 
without them we risk submitting to the simple challenges and slowly 
surrendering the freedoms we all hold so dear.
  I am proud and grateful for Mrs. Parks' past achievement and 
tenacious disposition, but I am also proud and inspired by the task we 
undertake today. By supporting the commemoration of Mrs. Parks' 
accomplishments with a Gold Medal of Honor, we are not only honoring 
her past achievements, but we also celebrate our present gratitude.
  Because when Mrs. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat that evening 
on a bus in Alabama, she stood up not only for the civil rights of 
Southern blacks, but for the civil rights of every red, yellow, brown, 
black and white American. She did not bend under the formidable 
pressure democracy can sometimes place on one's shoulders. She stood 
tall and she stood firm so that we all might stand a little taller and 
a little prouder.
  As the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) said, we all, red, yellow, 
brown, black, or white, are benefactors of Mrs. Parks' courage. For 
that, Mrs. Parks, we all say ``Thank you.''
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Pelosi).
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this 
time and for her great leadership in bringing this very, very important 
piece of legislation to the floor.
  This is a great day for the House of Representatives. This is a day 
that

[[Page 6955]]

brings honor to the work we do here as we honor Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks 
is the legitimate heir of the founders of our country. I hesitate to 
say Founding Fathers because in some ways she is a founding mother for 
all that our country stands for. She is in the tradition of freedom, 
equality, and of liberty.
  How wonderful, how wonderful that this House of Representatives and 
thus then this Congress of this United States will award her the Gold 
Medal. Every American who has ever lived and who ever will live owes 
Rosa Parks a great debt of gratitude for her courage, for her 
leadership. It did not stop when she changed the course of history in 
our country. She continues to be a source of inspiration to all of us.
  Again, we thank Rosa Parks for her courage and for allowing us the 
privilege of honoring her.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to myself the balance of my time.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I take this moment to thank the gentlewoman 
from Indiana (Ms. Carson) for her hard work, for her vision, and for 
the care that she has shown in bringing to us what we should have done 
a long time ago, the honoring of Rosa Parks in this very special way.
  I would like to thank the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus), my 
colleague, the chair of our committee. I would like to thank him for 
all of his cooperation, for his support, and for the work that he did 
to make sure that we got this measure up before this House. I thank him 
very much for all that he has done to ensure that Rosa Parks is 
honored.
  We seek to honor Rosa Parks with the Congressional Gold Medal of 
Honor because of her love of justice and equality, because of her love 
of self and her people and all people, because she has helped to save 
America and pointed the Nation in the right direction after a favorable 
Supreme Court decision brought to an end the Montgomery bus boycott.
  Mrs. Parks moved to Detroit, Michigan, where she worked for the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), her good friend and our 
colleague. I thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) for seeing 
to it that Ms. Parks had food on her table. She stayed there until her 
retirement.
  Now, as if she had not done enough, in February of 1987, along with 
Mrs. Elaine Eason Steele, Mrs. Rosa Parks co-founded the Rosa and 
Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development. The institute, which 
focuses on social action and economic development among America's 
youth, is a realization of one of Mrs. Parks' long-awaited dreams.
  When we honor Mrs. Rosa Parks, we honor the best in ourselves. If she 
had not sat down, where would we stand today?
  Mr. Speaker, I hope the time the Members of the House have spent on 
the floor here today will serve as a history lesson to the young people 
of this Nation. We want them, like Rosa Parks, to be the absolute best 
human beings they can possibly be.
  We would like them and all Americans to dedicate their lives to 
freedom, justice, and equality for all people. We would like all 
Americans who have focused today on this history lesson to live for 
justice, to work for justice, to sacrifice for justice, and if 
necessary to even die for justice.
  Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, racial prejudice, as the American novelist 
Pearl Buck once said, ``is a shadow over all of us and the shadow is 
darkest over those who feel it least and allow its evil effects to go 
on.'' Fortunately for the United States, this statement does not 
describe Rosa Parks.
  Her courageous, yet simple act, made clear that the evil of racial 
prejudice could not go on. In an era when words seemed to speak louder 
than deeds, her small act of defiance spoke volumes--and we are still 
hearing the reverberations today.
  Rosa Parks not only deserves, but has more than earned the 
Congressional Gold Medal. When I met her recently over tea, it was an 
amazing--and humbling--event to meet a living legend. Like American 
heroes before her, she has created a lasting legacy as truly the first 
lady of civil rights and the mother of the freedom movement. I am 
honored to have met her and honored to recommend that she receive the 
Congressional Gold Medal. I am proud that this Congress has taken the 
initiative to honor this American legend.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, it is with deep admiration for Ms. Rosa 
Parks that I support H.R. 573, authorizing the President to award a 
gold medal on behalf of the Congress to her. As most Americans know, on 
December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give-up her seat to a white man 
on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. It is hard to imagine that up until the 
1960s, Americans in the south lived in legal segregation. It took the 
strength and courage of one seamstress who had a particularly rough day 
to bring the injuries and injustices that a whole race had felt for 
decades to the forefront of our national discourse.
  Her whole-hearted contribution to the civil rights movement and to 
the doctrine of nonviolent protest was an inspiration to those who had 
lost hope during such a dark and tense time in American history. By not 
yielding her seat on that bus, Ms. Parks ignited a fever for change 
that was not quenched until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 
1964. That fever started with the Montgomery Improvement Association 
beginning a bus boycott that grew larger and spread to cities across 
the country. The nation soon became aware of the social injustices that 
were being placed on its own citizens. Great civil rights leaders took 
up Rosa Parks' torch and began fighting for legislation that would 
repel laws calling for discrimination and unequal treatment.
  Rosa Parks' dedication to equality and individual rights strikes at 
the heart of America's founding principles. It was through her 
steadfast will and enduring faith in the human spirit that a nation 
torn by racism and hate was able to see the folly of its misguided 
actions. Her quiet courage taught us all how to follow our hearts and 
stand-up for the freedom all Americans deserve. To this day, Ms. Parks 
embodies freedom and is a living example of individual power. Her 
actions ultimately culminated in the greatest civil rights movement of 
the century. After years of social strife and protest, America 
recognized the need to ensure all citizens equal treatment under the 
law. At the end of the long, loud struggle that Ms. Parks quietly 
began, all Americans could legally enjoy the rights that our great 
Constitution entitles all of us to. For those reasons alone she is a 
monumental figure and worthy of our deepest praise and thanks.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, anybody can be great because anybody 
can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't 
have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You don't have to 
know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve, or theory of 
thermodynamics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace and a soul 
generated by love.
  In 1955 at the time of Mrs. Parks heroic act, I was six years old, a 
daughter of a sky cap and factory worker, a student of the Civil Rights 
Movement, and now thank God a Congresswoman able to vote to award Rosa 
Parks a Congressional Gold Medal. I only hope that more young people 
African American, Caucasian, Asian American, Hispanic, American Indian, 
brown, black, white, or yellow will continue to be inspired by her 
heroic acts.
  Mr. ROEMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 573, a bill 
to convey the Congressional Gold Medal to Rosa Parks. I am proud to be 
an original cosponsor of this measure, and I want to also express my 
thanks to my Hoosier Colleague Julia Carson for authoring the bill.
  I thoroughly agree that Rosa Parks is a living role model for all of 
us. Her grace and dignity are inspiring, and her simple refusal to 
accept injustice is deservedly a noted highlight of American history. 
Rosa Parks is one of the most important icons of the century, and today 
we honor her living contribution to history.
  Rosa Parks committed an act of valor that did not just disturb a 
community--it sent a wake up call to the nation. The foundations of 
history are built of simple acts of heroism. Ms. Parks earns her 
rightful place among the notable for her bravery and commitment. For 
her accomplishments, bestowing this medal is the least that Congress 
can do.
  Mr. Speaker, Rosa Parks' experience teaches us about endurance, about 
pride, and about self-respect. The lessons learned from her life should 
reach everyone, and bring us closer together.
  Mr. BENTSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Rosa Parks for her role in 
American History. It is long overdue that the Congress recognize her 
with the Congressional Gold Medal for her contribution to the Civil 
Rights Movement.
  On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks stood up for human rights when she 
refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her simple 
yet enormous act of defiance led to the 382 day Montgomery Bus Boycott. 
Rosa Parks stared down racism and hatred by simply saying ``No.'' No to 
Jim Crow.

[[Page 6956]]

Not to second-class citizenship. No to segregation. By doing so, she 
said yes to freedom and yes to the principle that ``all men are created 
equal.''
  We should not think however, that this resistance was easy. Rosa 
Parks was thrown in jail, harassed, and humiliated. But, this did not 
stop her from pressing forward. She displayed exemplary courage at a 
time when it was unsafe for a black woman to do so. She wanted equality 
not only for African-Americans, but for all Americans.
  During this tumultuous time America, Rosa Parks was a beacon of light 
for our country. Her defiance and the persistence of African-Americans 
led to the desegregation of public transportation in Montgomery. She 
has earned her place in history with other civil rights pioneers such 
as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Prior to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Rosa Parks served as the 
Secretary of the NAACP and later Adviser to the NAACP Youth Council. 
She tried to vote at a time when it was impossible for African 
Americans to do so. She was constantly turned away at the polls, but 
these obstacles did not hinder her pursuit of justice.
  Segregation was evil, demeaning, and belittling to our Constitution. 
Today is our chance to reaffirm our faith in freedom.
  This honor should not have taken so much time. We should remember Dr. 
Martin Luther King's words in his letter from A Birmingham Jail:

       Actually, time itself is neutral: it can be used either 
     destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that 
     the people of ill will have used time much more effectively 
     than the people of good will. . . Human progress never rolls 
     in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless 
     efforts of men willing to be coworkers with God, and without 
     this `hard work,' time itself becomes an ally of the forces 
     of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the 
     knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.

  Rosa Parks lived these words.
  Mr. Speaker, Americans have made great strides in equality, but we 
still have a long way to go. Awarding Rosa Parks a Congressional Gold 
Medal is the least we can do to recognize her achievements to the Civil 
Rights Movement. She truly inspired a nation.
  Mr. FORD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of bill H.R. 
573 to honor the eternal Mother of the Modern Civil Rights Movement, 
Rosa Parks. Ms. Parks' humble and courageous resistance on that great 
day in 1955 served as a catalyst for great change in our nation. Her 
refusal of ``second class citizenship'' served as a testimony to her 
pursuit of equality and justice for all Americans. Ms. Parks' is one of 
the great figures of modern times, and it is, in the words of Abraham 
Lincoln, ``altogether fitting and proper'' that we repay her dedication 
with the Congressional Gold Medal.
  When they arrested and removed Ms. Parks from that bus in Montgomery, 
Alabama, she did not know the momentous impact of her actions. She 
didn't know that her quiet courage would spark the bus boycotts and the 
emergence of a young minister by the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, 
Jr. Ultimately, the movement ignited by Ms. Parks led to the monumental 
civil rights legislation passed by this great body.
  Ms. Parks has been recognized by virtually every national 
organization dedicated to equality and social justice in this nation, 
yet until today, the U.S. Congress had not extended such an honor. I 
urge each and every person in this House to vote ``yes'' to bill H.R. 
573. Join me in honoring Rosa Parks, a champion of the Civil Rights 
Struggle, with the Congressional Gold Medal.
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, I rise today in strong 
support of this legislation to honor one of my heroes and a great 
American, the venerable Rosa Parks.
  On a wintery afternoon in December 1955, Rosa Louise 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. Park's 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. 
Park's courageous action. I traveled to the south as a ``freedom 
rider'' in support of the blossoming civil rights movement, and I too 
was jailed for my actions.
  Rosa Parks determination and tenacity that day continues to be an 
inspiration to all those committed to non-violent protest and change 
more than 40 years later. She continues to be a symbol and tireless 
advocate for justice and equality throughout America. She is a 
priceless lesson on the ``power of one.''
  Mr. Speaker, Rosa Parks is a national treasure. Our debt to her is 
great, and awarding her the Congressional Gold Medal is an honor long 
overdue.
  I am proud to co-sponsor this legislation, and I urge my colleagues 
to join me in awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to my hero, Rosa 
Louise Parks.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, 44 years ago this December, Rosa Parks 
refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man who wanted it. Rosa 
Parks didn't know that she was making history. And she certainly had no 
idea that she would become a genuine American hero. What she knew was 
that she was tired after a long day's work and she wanted to rest her 
weary feet.
  In the first half of this century, Montgomery, Alabama, represented 
the worst segregation had to offer. Daily life in Montgomery included 
such insulting facts of life as ``blacks only'' elevators, segregated 
lunch counters, and Jim Crow laws which relegated African-Americans to 
second-class status. And on public buses, the first four rows of seats 
were reserved for whites, and usually remained empty when there were 
not enough whites to fill them. The back section, of course, was always 
very crowded, was reserved for blacks.
  One December evening after a long day at work, Rosa Parks stepped on 
a bus for the ride home to a restful night of sleep. Parks was sitting 
in the middle section of the bus when a white man boarded the bus and 
demanded that she move because the white section of the bus was full. 
Parks, very tired from a long day working as a seamstress, quietly 
refused to move. When told by the bus driver that the police were about 
to be called, Parks said, ``Go ahead and call them.'' The police came 
and they arrested this gentle, middle-aged women for refusing to move 
to the back of the bus.
  It was this stand against racism and prejudice in Montgomery, 
Alabama, that has led many to refer to Rosa Parks as, ``The mother of 
the Civil Rights movement.'' Because of the courage of individuals like 
Rosa Parks, the ugly head of segregation was eventually severed and the 
violence and indignities that once faced African-Americans in the South 
are now grim reminders of a shameful part of American history.
  Mr. Speaker, school children today read in their history books about 
the strength, dignity and heroism of Rosa Parks. She is a living 
treasure and her heroism serves as a constant reminder that freedom 
only works if freedom applies equally to all Americans, regardless of 
color or circumstances.
  Mr. LARSON. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to offer my support for H.R. 
573, which would ``Authorize the President to Award a Gold Medal on 
Behalf of the Congress to Rosa Parks in Recognition of her 
Contributions to the Nation.''
  Rare are the people who can be called ``living legacies.'' But today 
I am fortunate to have the opportunity to honor one of these rare 
people. Her name is Rosa Parks.
  It is probably hard for any of us to understand the inner strength 
and fortitude that it took for Ms. Parks to take the simple, but 
momentous action she did on that fateful day of December 1, 1955. Yet, 
what we can understand is why she is most deserving of a Presidential 
Gold Medal.
  We often hear the phrase ``one person can make a difference.'' No one 
more embodies that phrase than Rosa Parks. Not only did she make a 
difference to her generation--since it was her action that inspired the 
creation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act--
but she continues to inspire generations that have followed. Through 
the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development, a non-profit 
organization she co-founded in 1987, she works with young people to 
help them achieve their full potential.
  No words can better state the difference that one person can make 
than what Ms. Parks wrote herself in her book Quite Strength ``Our 
mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it. I kept thinking 
about my mother and my grandparents, and how strong they were. I knew 
there was a possibility of being mistreated, but an opportunity was 
being given to me to do what I had asked of others.''
  When she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man she 
inspired 42,000 African Americans to boycott Montgomery buses for 381 
days. Rosa Parks' fight against the barriers of racism could have 
easily ended there. The fact that it did not is what makes her so 
special.
  Rosa Parks is a woman who lived her life with the strongest of 
convictions for what is

[[Page 6957]]

right, what is good and what is just. I urge my colleagues to support 
this bill to honor one of our Nation's living legacies who has devoted 
her life to making a difference in this country.
  Thank you, Rosa Parks for all that you have done.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a cosponsor of H.R. 573 to 
authorize the President to award a gold medal honoring Mrs. Rosa Parks.
  She has embodied the importance of individual responsibility and the 
significance of individual action. When she stood up for her rights as 
a human being, she truly made a difference.
  In her autobiography Quiet Strength, Mrs. Parks explains that she did 
not change things alone. She writes, ``Four decades later I am still 
uncomfortable with the credit given to me for starting the bus boycott. 
I would like people to know I was not the only person involved. I was 
just one of many who fought for freedom.''
  Her enduring modesty has also been an example for others, reminding 
us that standing up for principle is enough of a reward, whether it is 
in the limelight or in the shadows.
  The reality is, of course, that Rosa Parks was the pebble that 
started an avalanche, and for that she is honored as the Mother of the 
Civil Rights Movement in America.
  I have had the privilege of knowing Rosa Parks over the decades of 
the civil rights movement. As she has for millions of Americans, she 
has been for me a source of inspiration in the battle for good will 
among us all.
  I urge support for this important resolution.
  Mr. BARR of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 
573, legislation which will authorize a congressional gold medal to 
Rosa Parks. H.R. 573 will authorize the President to award a gold medal 
on behalf of the Congress to Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks is the Mother of 
America's civil rights movement. Her efforts opened new doors of 
opportunity and brought true equality for all Americans closer to 
reality.
  In 1955, Rosa Parks touched off the bus boycott in Montgomery, 
Alabama, when she was arrested for refusing to yield her seat at the 
front of the bus to a white man. Bone-weary from a long day at work, 
Rosa Parks was on her way home. The only seat available on the bus was 
in the `white' section. Outraged by her arrest, the black community in 
Montgomery launched a bus boycott demanding racial integration of the 
bus system.
  The bus boycott introduced Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to America as 
a civil rights leader. Led by Dr. King, African-Americans took car-
pools to their destinations in Montgomery and pushed the bus system to 
the brink of financial ruin. After months of running nearly-empty 
buses, Montgomery relented and agreed to integrate the system. For the 
first time bus riders, no matter what their color, could sit anywhere 
they wanted.
  The movement sparked in Montgomery culminated several years later in 
the Civil Rights Act, and other civil rights legislation, and a new 
affirmation of the equal rights promised all Americans by the 
Constitution. The quiet courage of Rosa Parks changed the course of 
American history and came to symbolize the power of non-violent 
protest.
  In the 44 years since that day in Montgomery, the nation has derived 
immense benefit from the leadership Rosa Parks inspired, and she 
continues to dedicate her life to the cause of universal human rights.
  Mr. Speaker, in recognition of Rosa Parks' contributions to the 
nation, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this unique woman 
and authorizing a congressional gold medal.
  Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, today the U.S. House is honoring the 
contributions of a distinguished native Alabamian who helped change the 
social fabric of the nation. I'm speaking of Rosa Parks, known as the 
mother of the civil rights movement.
  On Thursday, December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, an African-American 
seamstress, boarded a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama on her way home 
from work. She took her seat on the crowded bus just behind the white 
section. A few stops later, as more passengers boarded, the driver 
ordered her to give up her seat to a white man. She refused and the bus 
driver called the police. Parks was arrested for violating the 
Montgomery segregation code, having to pay a $10 fine and $4 in court 
costs.
  It was this single act of courage that served as the catalyst for the 
Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 and the U.S. Supreme Court's eventual 
declaration that bus segregation was unconstitutional. By her quiet 
defiance, Rosa Parks laid the foundation of the peaceful resistance 
movement for American civil rights.
  Today, the House has honored Rosa Parks's place in the history of our 
nation by authorizing the minting of a Congressional Gold Medal to be 
presented to her. I am proud to support this tribute to a great 
American who continues her quiet struggle for racial and social 
harmony.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks 
sat down for justice, sat down for righteousness, and then she would 
not get up when faced with tyranny and oppression. In this immortal 
act, refusing to give her seat to a white man, she inspired the 
oppressed masses of minorities in America to reach for what America 
owed them. Ms. Parks also inspired a modern American myth that has 
allowed generations of children to aim higher, to reach for something 
better, and to believe that justice is possible for all people. This 
myth allows children and grown folk to believe that, maybe, all men are 
created equally. This woman inspired children from Soweto to Tibet, 
from Turkey to Columbia, and she still inspires children from Harlem to 
Watts, from Austin to Minneapolis, and from Chicago's west side to the 
south side and up to the north side.
  Martin Luther King, Jr., while standing on the Mall of America in our 
Nation's Capitol said, ``We refuse to believe that the bank of justice 
is bankrupt . . . So we have come to cash this check, a check that will 
give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice.'' 
Now we, as Members of Congress, we are voting to cash a check and give 
a poor black woman from Montgomery, Alabama, a Congressional Gold 
Medal. Because she helped America realize that injustice permeated the 
land, realize that African-Americans would no longer accept the 
repeated abuse and inequity that went with their supposed life. Because 
she helped a nation realize we can only be as great as our most 
oppressed citizens. Because she was a catalyst for the greatest civil 
rights change in this Nation's history.
  In the later years, the struggle progressed and spread this great 
nation, those who followed her path of civil disobedience while 
fighting for justice looked to her for strength and for inspiration. If 
Rosa Parks could go to jail for justice then so could they, and the 
jails across the southern States filled to the bursting point with 
people demanding equality. By awarding this medal today we bestow a 
rightful honor owed, an honor required, and an honor that is overdue.
  It is high time we added Rosa Parks to the Pantheon of American 
heroes along Robert Kennedy, George Washington, and Nelson Mandela and 
this medal does just that. By awarding this medal we let the world know 
the bank of justice and righteousness is no longer returning checks to 
African-Americans marked as ``insufficient funds,'' but we are on the 
road to distributing the dividends of justice and equality for all.
  Mr. VISCLOSKY. Mr. Speaker, today, led by a remarkable woman, 
Congresswoman Julia Carson, we honor the actions of another remarkable 
woman, Mrs. Rosa Parks. Congresswoman Carson has worked tirelessly to 
insure that Mrs. Parks receives a Congressional Gold Medal, a 
distinction reserved for only the most heroic individuals who have 
affected change on a grand scale. It is particularly fitting that Mrs. 
Parks receive this award, since through her simple action, refusing to 
give up her seat on a crowded Montgomery bus, she affected the modern 
history of the most powerful nation in the world. However, Mrs. Parks 
is not only the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement, she is one of its 
current guardians, and I believe that in honoring her most well-known 
deeds, we must honor the other contributions she has made as well.
  Another leader who refused to see people stripped of the dignity and 
self-respect they deserve, Mahatma Ganhi, once said that. ``Whatever 
you do, however small and insignificant it may seem, it is most 
important that you do it.'' Mrs. Parks' actions, and the enormous 
ramifications her small action has had, are a perfect example of the 
importance each individual must put in their own endeavors. Mrs. Parks' 
actions since that fateful day in Montgomery have helped many people 
reach their full potential. Although her leadership in the Montgomery 
bus boycott made her famous, her subsequent 33 years of work as a 
member of Congressman Conyers' staff also made a real impact on the 
lives of others. In fact, Mrs. Parks has spent her whole life, not 
merely one day in 1955, providing an example for all of us of the 
difference one person can make.
  In 1987, Mrs. Parks founded the nonprofit Rosa and Raymond Parks 
Institute for Self-Development, which motivates youth to reach their 
potential through many programs, including bank training, substance-
abuse prevention and goal setting. The institute she founded is not 
designed to organize a mass rebellion or spark a sense of outrage in 
the children it reached. Instead, Mrs. Park believes that

[[Page 6958]]

spending time with children, giving them a good sense of their history 
and the pride they should have in it can affect real change. She spends 
a good deal of her time teaching the children she works with about the 
contributions of Africans in America, she sets the record straight 
about events during the civil rights movement with the expertise of 
someone who knows. The program she designed emphasizes pride, dignity, 
courage, leadership, and the importance of marketable skills. The 
institute's most well-known program, Pathway to Freedom, enables youth 
to research history around the country--by bus--tracing the underground 
railroad. Mrs. Parks teaches kids, ages 11-17, about the Underground 
Railroad that carried slaves through a secret route of wooded hideouts 
and safe houses to freedom in Canada. She given them the opportunity to 
participate in a month-long tour of those ``Pathways to Freedom.''
  An example of personal responsibility who cleaned the bathrooms in 
her private school to pay for her own tuition, Mrs. Parks also passes 
this empowering sense of self on to the children with which she works. 
Awarding Mrs. Parks the Congressional gold Medal not only honors her 
stand, so to speak, in 1955, it also honors the many contributions she 
has made since then. Congresswoman Carson's tribute to Mrs. Parks 
reflects her understanding of the importance the leadership of African-
American women has on the nation.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of 
H.R. 573, a bill to award a Congressional gold medal to Ms. Rosa Parks.
  As the 91st African-American Member of Congress, I stand on the 
shoulders of Ms. Rosa Parks and the other mothers, martyrs, and 
soldiers of the struggle to create a more perfect Union.
  On December 1, 1955, a weary seamstress in Montgomery refused to give 
up her seat on the public bus to a white man for the long ride home. 
She was just too plain tired. By her simple yet significant act of 
defiance, Ms. Parks struck a mighty blow against the states' rights 
philosophy that justified Jim Crow American Apartheid, and helped set 
the nation back on the course of Reconstruction.
  Ninety years after the end of the Civil War, her actions were the 
catalyst for the sweeping and revolutionary changes that culminated in 
some of the most significant legislation to ever pass the House of 
Representatives: The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 
1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
  In fact, my election to Congress, and the elections of every African-
American serving in Congress, can all be directly attributed to her 
courage on that fateful day.
  But if we are to honor Ms. Rosa Parks for her courageous actions on 
that bus in Montgomery, surely we must also honor her for the life of 
activism that led up to that event. Ms. Parks was as a familiar 
participant in the civil rights struggle long before that bus ride.
  Through the forties and fifties, she served as an active and vocal 
member of the NAACP. She joined the Montgomery Voters League, and was 
active in registering others to vote well before her 44 years of fame 
began.
  Mr. Speaker, Members of the House, as we add our names to the litany 
of those who have paid tribute to the legacy Ms. Parks has created, let 
us also recognize the larger significance of her acts.
  The true legacy for all Americans in the beginning of the Montgomery 
bus boycott is the years of hard work, perseverance, preparation, and 
faith that preceded that moment.
  Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members of the House, Rosa Parks did not make 
history by refusing to give up her seat on a bus in downtown Montgomery 
in 1955; she made history by preparing herself to stand and be counted 
long before the spotlight was cast on her weary feet.
  She is a model citizen of this nation. And it is the entirety of her 
actions and the singularity of her purpose--a freer and more just 
nation--that we ought honor here today. Even more, we ought to continue 
to work in her legacy by striving to deliver on the constitutional 
promise of a more perfect Union, a Union in which no American is left 
behind.
  Ms. Parks, on behalf of myself, my staff and the constituents of the 
Second District of Illinois, I thank you for all of the sacrifices you 
made for the United States of America.
  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of legislation to 
award a Congressional Gold Medal to Rosa Parks.
  Occasionally in our nation's history there are pivotal moments and 
indispensable individuals that move America away from its divisive past 
and closer to its imagined promise. December 1, 1955, produced such a 
moment and such a person.
  Rosa Parks grew up in segregation. Every day she was forced to deal 
with the violation of America's constitutional guarantees. On December 
1, 1955, this American woman, exacted of this country the freedom and 
equality the Constitution promises.
  Tired, like most citizens after a hard day's work, Rosa Parks refused 
to obey a shameful law that required her to sit at the back of a 
Montgomery, AL, bus. Her actions set the stage for the civil rights 
movement of a people who were unfairly and unjustly living under racist 
law.
  Because of this brave American woman, segregation laws around the 
nation began to crumble and our nation began to respond to the call for 
African-American equality. Because of her invaluable contribution to 
our nation, every American lives better lives today. For that reason, 
it is quite appropriate that Mrs. Rosa Parks receive the Congressional 
Gold Medal.
  But I must add Mr. Speaker, that today, our nation continues to call 
for equality and freedom. There are still issues in our America that 
were issues in 1955. There are still Americans who do not enjoy the 
promises enumerated in the constitution. So, if we are to truly honor 
this great woman, we must do so, not only with a Gold Medal, but also 
with actions that further her purpose. We must all become individuals 
working to end the discrimination and inequalities that exist in our 
great nation.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and honor the mother 
of the civil rights movement, Mrs. Rosa Parks.
  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 573. At the 
same time, I rise in great respect for the courage and high ideals of 
Rosa Parks who stood steadfastly for the rights of individuals against 
unjust laws and oppressive governmental policies. However, I oppose the 
Congressional Gold Medal for Rosa Parks Act because authorizing $30,000 
of taxpayer money is neither constitutional nor, in the spirit of Rosa 
Parks who is widely recognized and admired for standing up against an 
overbearing government infringing on individual rights.
  Because of my continuing and uncompromising opposition to 
appropriations not authorized within the enumerated powers of the 
Constitution, I must remain consistent in my defense of a limited 
government whose powers are explicitly delimited under the enumerated 
powers of the Constitution--a Constitution, which only months ago, each 
Member of Congress, swore to uphold.
  Perhaps we should begin a debate among us on more appropriate 
processes by which we spend other people's money. Honorary medals and 
commemorative coins, under the current process, come from allocated 
other people's money. We should look for another way.
  It is, of course, easier to be generous with other people's money.
  Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I offer my enthusiastic support to H.R. 
573, a bill to authorize the President of the United States to award a 
gold medal on behalf of the Congress to Rosa Parks in recognition of 
her contribution to the nation.
  In recent years, the Congress has bestowed this important honor to 
Nelson Mandella, Mother Theresa and Frank Sinatra. In their own way, 
each of these individuals has made significant social contributions. 
Moving beyond their basic roles as a political figure, a nun, and a 
musician, these Congressional Medal recipients have, by deed and 
example, influenced history.
  The life of Rosa Parks and her heroic act of defiance on a 
Montgomery, Alabama bus on December 1, 1955, have forever changed 
history for millions of Americans. Few Americans can be more deserving 
of the Congressional Gold Medal. Rosa Parks's contribution to our 
society goes far beyond what she did one day in Montgomery, Alabama. 
From that day on, Rosa Parks has spent her life fighting for equity and 
justice, including her roles as the founder of the Rosa and Raymond 
Parks Institute for Self-Development to offer guidance to young 
African-Americans in preparation for leadership careers.
  Having recently celebrated her 86th birthday, Rosa Parks deserves the 
thanks of the American public for decades of dedication to the cause of 
racial equality. By her own admission, the ``mother of the civil rights 
movement'' is still uncomfortable with the accolades she has received 
over the years. In remains, however, our obligation as the elected 
representatives of our nation to single out those among us who deserve 
special recognition as role models for our society. Today, we have such 
an opportunity. By supporting the resolution before us we honor the 
principles that are the foundation of the American democracy.
  I am pleased to cast an ``aye'' vote on the legislation before us and 
honor a most deserving recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal.
  Mr. DIXON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to join my colleagues in honoring Mrs. 
Rosa Parks. As

[[Page 6959]]

we approach the millennium, it is fitting that we bestow the 
Congressional gold medal on a woman whose simple, but profound response 
to unfairness marked a defining moment in our American century.
  I offer the words of another of this century's courageous Americans 
as a tribute to Rosa Parks. As he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, 
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had this to say:
  ``I [have] an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the 
future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to 
the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the 
`isness' of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of 
reaching up for the eternal `oughtness' that forever confronts him. I 
refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the 
river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround 
him.''
  Mrs. Parks' courage to reach up for the ``oughtness'' before her 
continues half a century later to inspire others who refuse to accept 
the ``ambiguities of history.'' Mrs. Parks, we thank you for your 
profound contribution to our nation.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, I would like to join my colleagues in 
recognizing Rosa Parks, whom by her brave action became a catalyst in 
the Civil Rights Movement. When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat 
on a Montgomery bus on December 1, 1995, no one realized the national 
impact her actions would have. Rosa Parks was simply one courageous 
woman who did what she believed was fair and right. She is a testament 
to the power of one individual willing to fight for her beliefs.
  ``Ms. Parks' actions set the Civil Rights Movement in motion and set 
a precedence for protest without violence. I would like to thank Rosa 
Parks for her contribution to freedom and justice for all men and women 
in this country. Her actions changed the course of history. Today Rosa 
Parks will take her rightful place among the legends of history when 
Congress presents her with the Congressional Medal of Honor.''
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in 
tribute to Rosa Parks and in support of a bill introduced by 
Congresswoman Julia Carson of Indiana to authorize President Clinton to 
award the Congressional Gold Medal to Rosa Parks.
  Rosa Parks was the spark that lit the fire in the civil rights rights 
movement. In 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama Ms. Parks refused to give up 
her bus seat to a white man. She was arrested and ordered to pay $14. 
Her actions led other civil rights leaders to protest bus desegregation 
creating a city-wide boycott. Martin Luther King, Jr. became a 
household name when he became involved in the boycott by preaching to 
others about the injustice of the bus segregation policy.
  Ms. Parks continued to be a national civil rights leader even after 
the success of the bus boycott. She lectured about the civil rights 
movement and attended demonstrations. She worked for Congressman John 
Conyers of Detroit, Michigan until 1988.
  Congress should recognize Ms. Parks for her actions that defied the 
policies of separation and humilitation. Through this legislation, 
Congress should salute Ms. Parks for her current work in combating 
racism at the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute of Self Development 
which teaches young people about the legacy of the civil rights 
movement.
  Because of Rosa Parks' courage, I stand before you here today. 
Because of her courage, America is a stronger nation.
  I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this legislation. I am 
proud to serve in a Congress that recognizes the importance of the 
civil rights movement and is willing to honor a woman who ushered in 
the movement. Our past should not be forgotten and our heroines should 
be honored.
  I hope that this legislation will serve to bring America together. 
That is Ms. Parks' legacy.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pease). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 573, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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