House Leaders Honor Rosa Parks
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WASHINGTON — Rosa Parks, whose refusal to move to the back of the bus 35 years ago was a key moment in the civil rights struggle, was honored Thursday by House Democratic leaders, who said she had changed the nation.
“Rosa, let me thank you personally for sitting down so long ago so I could stand here today,” said Rep. William H. Gray III (D-Pa.), the House Democratic whip, who credited Parks with triggering changes that have allowed blacks such as himself to attain high office.
Parks’ 77th birthday on Sunday will be marked by a black-tie national tribute at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.
In anticipation of that event, House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) and other House Democrats appeared with Parks at a news conference.
“Sometimes it takes one person to say no, and a whole series of events follow,” Foley said. “There are few people that can say they changed the nation. Rosa Parks changed the nation.”
Her refusal to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Ala., city bus on Dec. 1, 1955, led to a citywide bus boycott that lasted 381 days.
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