HR 9001B

1	House Resolution
2	A resolution honoring the memory and the legacy of Rosa
3	Parks.
4
5	WHEREAS, born in Tuskegee, Alabama, nearly a century ago to
6	James and Leona McCauley, Rosa Louise McCauley was enrolled at
7	the age of 11 years in the Montgomery Industrial School for
8	Girls and later attended the Alabama State Teachers College High
9	School, and
10	WHEREAS, Rosa McCauley married Raymond Parks in 1932, and
11	the couple settled in Montgomery, working together in that
12	city's branch of the National Association for the Advancement of
13	Colored People, Raymond as an active member and Rosa as a
14	secretary and youth leader, and
15	WHEREAS, on December 1, 1955, Mrs. Parks refused to
16	surrender her seat on a city bus to a white man as the laws of
17	segregation required and was promptly arrested, convicted of
18	breaking the law, and fined $10 plus $4 in court costs, a
19	sequence of events that triggered the 381-day Montgomery bus
20	boycott and led to organized protests throughout the nation as
21	aroused African Americans were joined by other courageous
22	citizens to demand equal rights for all, and
23	WHEREAS, in 1965, Mrs. Parks joined the staff of Michigan
24	Congressman John Conyers and served as a valued employee for 23
25	years until her retirement at age 75, meanwhile establishing the
26	Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, a
27	nonprofit organization designed to motivate young people to
28	strive toward reaching their highest potential, and
29	WHEREAS, the bold action of quiet dignity by Rosa Parks in
30	Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1 a little more than 50 years
31	ago and the ensuing nationwide acts of civil disobedience not
32	only led to the desegregation of the public transportation
33	system in Montgomery but is generally pointed to by historians
34	as the beginning of the modern-day Civil Rights Movement in the
35	United States, and
36	WHEREAS, during a lifetime spanning 92 years, from February
37	4, 1913, to October 25, 2005, Rosa Parks, named by Time Magazine
38	in 1999 as one of the "Top 20 Most Influential People of the
39	20th Century," received numerous commendations for her
40	dedication to the struggle against injustice and inequality,
41	including the NAACP's highest honor, the Spingarn Medal, in 1979
42	and the Martin Luther King, Jr., Nonviolent Peace Prize in 1980;
43	was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1983;
44	received the Rosa Parks Peace Prize in Stockholm in 1994 and the
45	Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given by the
46	United States Executive Branch, in 1996; became the first
47	recipient of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center's
48	International Freedom Conductor Award in 1998; and was given the
49	Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award given by the United
50	States Legislative Branch, and the Detroit Windsor International
51	Freedom Festival Award, and
52	WHEREAS, in her death Rosa Parks was honored as has been no
53	other woman before her when she became the first female and only
54	the second African American to lie in honor in the Rotunda of
55	the United States Capitol, an expression of profound respect
56	further heightened by President George W. Bush's order that
57	American flags be flown at half staff around the world on the
58	day of her interment, NOW, THEREFORE,
59
60	Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of
61	Florida:
62
63	That the Members of the House of Representatives pause in
64	their deliberations to mourn the death of one of the nation's
65	most courageous citizens and to express their admiration for
66	Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, who remained committed to the cause
67	of freedom throughout her lifetime, speaking out against
68	injustice in America and abroad, and who came to be called the
69	"First Lady of Civil Rights."
70	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be
71	presented to the Rosa Parks Library and Museum on the campus of
72	Troy State University, 252 Montgomery Street, Montgomery,
73	Alabama 36104, for display or other use as it may find
74	appropriate.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.