Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Mich, April 18, 2012 (Photo by Pete
Souza) 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF ROSA PARKS - – - – - –
- BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA On December
1, 1955, our Nation was forever transformed when an African-
American seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to give up
her seat on a city bus to a white passenger. Just wanting to get
home after a long day at work, Rosa Parks may not have been
planning to make history, but her defiance spurred a movement
that advanced our journey toward justice and equality for all.
Though Rosa Parks was not the first to confront the injustice of
segregation laws, her courageous act of civil disobedience
sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott — 381 days of peaceful
protest when ordinary men, women, and children sent the
extraordinary message that second-class citizenship was
unacceptable. Rather than ride in the back of buses, families
and friends walked. Neighborhoods and churches formed carpools.
Their actions stirred the conscience of