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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 25, 2017 02:52 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Joanna E. McClinton |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Co-Sponsorship: Resolution Designating Rosa Parks Remembrance Day |
| In the near future I plan to introduce a resolution designating February 4, 2017, as Rosa Parks Remembrance Day in honor of her courage and dedication to the cause of equality. Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913. She joined the civil rights movement in 1943 as a member of the Montgomery, Alabama, chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and became the chapter’s secretary. On December 1, 1955, after a long day’s work as a seamstress, Parks spurred one of the defining actions of the civil rights movement when she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus to a white man. Upon news of Parks’ arrest for violating the city’s segregation law, the NAACP organized a 381-day boycott by African Americans of the Montgomery bus system. The boycott led to the landmark 1956 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregated bus service was unconstitutional and served as precedent for repealing other segregation laws. Parks, who earned the nickname “mother of the civil rights movement,” continued her public service in Detroit, Michigan, as an aide to U.S. Representative John Conyers, Jr. from 1965 to 1988. She lived in Detroit until her death on October 24, 2005. For her unparalleled pursuit of justice and equality she was awarded the NAACP’s highest honor – the Spingarn Medal – in 1979; the Martin Luther King, Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize in 1980; the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996; and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999. A postage stamp was unveiled in her honor on what would have been her 100th birthday during a National Day of Courage celebration at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Please join me in celebrating February 4, 2017, as Rosa Parks Remembrance Day and honoring the achievements of this civil rights icon. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office at (717) 772-9850. |
Introduced as HR71