February 4 / Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks was 28 years old when her act of courage sparked the civil rights movement. She would have been 95 today. She was a seamstress who, after a hard day’s work was asked to give up her seat on a crowded bus so that a white man could have it. Wickipedia says,

“This action of civil disobedience started the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which is one of the largest movements against racial segregation. In addition, this launched Martin Luther King, Jr., who was involved with the boycott, to prominence in the civil rights movement. She has had a lasting legacy worldwide”

At her funeral which lasted 7 hours and was attended by over 4,000 people and watched on television worldwide tribute was paid to her by many prominent people. Here are two:

“The world knows of Rosa Parks because of a single, simple act of dignity and courage that struck a lethal blow to the foundations of legal bigotry,” said former President Clinton, who presented Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996.

and

“The woman we honored today held no public office, she wasn’t a wealthy woman, didn’t appear in the society pages,” said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. “And yet when the history of this country is written, it is this small, quiet woman whose name will be remembered long after the names of senators and presidents have been forgotten.”

You can read more about this remarkable woman here, here and here.