60 Years On From Rosa Parks’ Bus Boycott, Obama Pays A Touching Tribute


On December 1st 1955 one woman took a stand that would help spark a change in the course of history. On that day Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her famous boycott led to her arrest and was a seminal moment in the Civil Rights Movement. She famously said, “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in” and thank goodness she was brave enough. Although she wasn’t the first black person to stand up to racial segregation her revolt highlighted to the world that the time was ripe for change.

Now 60 years on President Obama has remembered the late great Parks (she passed in 2005) saying that her move “was the simplest of gestures, but her grace, dignity, and refusal to tolerate injustice helped spark a Civil Rights Movement that spread across America.”


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This isn’t the first time that the United States’ first black president has paid homage to Parks. In 2012 ,while visiting the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, he was pictured sitting on the prolific bus…


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…and in 2013 he unveiled a statue of the legendary pioneer in the Capitol. 


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President Obama said in a statement on Tuesday:


“Like so many giants of her age, Rosa Parks is no longer with us. But her lifetime of activism — and her singular moment of courage — continue to inspire us today. Because Rosa Parks kept her seat, thousands of ordinary commuters walked instead of rode. Because they walked, countless other quiet heroes marched. Because they marched, our union is more perfect.”


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385 days after her refusal to give up her seat to a white man, buses became desegregated. It became the leading vehicle for bringing an end to Jim Crow Laws. Rosa Parks and those who followed in her footsteps were an inspiration then and they continue to be today. Obama finished, “Today, we remember their heroism. Most of all, we recommit ourselves to continuing their march.” 
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