2008 Woodie Awards
Thousands pay respects to Rosa Parks in Detroit
Associated Press
Issue date: 11/2/05 Section: State and Nation
Parks became the first woman to lie in honor in the Rotunda, sharing the tribute given to Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and other national leaders. Capitol Police estimated the crowd at more than 30,000 but some participants said it was far bigger.
Parks was a 42-year-old tailor's assistant at a Montgomery, Ala., department store when she was arrested and fined $10 plus $4 in court costs. That triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system led by a 26-year-old minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in December 1956 that segregated seats on city buses were unconstitutional, giving momentum to the battle against laws that separated the races in public accommodations and businesses throughout the South.
Parks' act exposed her and her husband, Raymond, to harassment and death threats, and they lost their jobs in Montgomery. They moved to Detroit with Rosa Parks' mother, Leona McCauley, in 1957.
Rosa Parks held a series of low-paying jobs before U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. hired her in 1965 to work in his Detroit office. Conyers, speaking during the Washington memorial service, recalled a 1990 visit to Detroit by Nelson Mandela.
The former South African president led the crowd in a chant of Parks' name, "which made us realize that this is an international phenomenon that we celebrate," Conyers said. "Rosa Parks is worldwide."
Parks was a 42-year-old tailor's assistant at a Montgomery, Ala., department store when she was arrested and fined $10 plus $4 in court costs. That triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system led by a 26-year-old minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in December 1956 that segregated seats on city buses were unconstitutional, giving momentum to the battle against laws that separated the races in public accommodations and businesses throughout the South.
Parks' act exposed her and her husband, Raymond, to harassment and death threats, and they lost their jobs in Montgomery. They moved to Detroit with Rosa Parks' mother, Leona McCauley, in 1957.
Rosa Parks held a series of low-paying jobs before U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. hired her in 1965 to work in his Detroit office. Conyers, speaking during the Washington memorial service, recalled a 1990 visit to Detroit by Nelson Mandela.
The former South African president led the crowd in a chant of Parks' name, "which made us realize that this is an international phenomenon that we celebrate," Conyers said. "Rosa Parks is worldwide."
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