Civil Rights mother, Parks, 92, dies

Called the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” Rosa Parks died Monday at the age of 92 in her Detroit home.
“My generation grew up in a country that was much different because of the fire of freedom Rosa Parks ignited with her single courageous act,” said Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick in an e-mail. “All of us, no matter what our ethnic background, owe her a tremendous debt of gratitude for the changes that resulted from her act of protest.
“Detroit has always taken tremendous pride in the fact that Rosa Parks chose our city to be her home when very real threats to her safety forced her to leave Montgomery,” Kilpatrick said.
It was nearly 50 years ago when Parks was arrested on Dec. 1, 1955, after she refused to relinquish her seat in the “whites only” section of a Montgomery, Ala. bus.
The refusal ended with Park’s arrest, but initiated a 381-day bus boycott by supporters of desegregation. Instead of using the city’s bus system, blacks used carpooling as an alternative transportation method and black taxicab drivers risked prosecution from white city officials by providing free services. The city bus system nearly went broke after blacks discontinued riding buses in the area.
A march was held Monday in Park’s hometown of Tuskegee, Ala. More than 200 people marched through the town to pay respect to Parks. Town of Tuskegee Mayor Johnny Ford petitioned President George Bush and Congress to designate a national park site in honor of Parks.
Tim Omick, general manager of the Montgomery (Ala.) Area Transit System, said the front seat of each bus is draped in black and “reserved,” in remembrance of Parks.
“I think Mrs. Parks and the results of the acts of her defiance of the laws then gave everyone in Montgomery and the nation — white, black, everyone — an opportunity for full access to public transportation,” Omick said.”
Sherry Williams, 32, of Columbus, Ohio, said today’s younger generation should reflect on the labors of Parks and perhaps follow suit.
“Her death is the end of an era that depicted a time of strong, united activism,” Williams, a Jackson State alumna said. “Hopefully her death can inspire the hip-hop generation, one which benefited from her struggle, to pick up the baton.”
At Southern, officials are flying flags at half mast in remembrance of Parks.
“A queen and a great woman has fallen in America. Rosa Parks has left a legacy of courage and justice,” said Johnny Anderson, chairman of the Southern University System Board of Supervisors. “America is a better place because this giant of a woman, wrapped in a small frame, decided that enough was enough.
“I count it a privilege to stand on the shoulders of this great woman of courage, hope, love and faith. The Southern University family pays homage and respect to the life and legacy of Rosa Parks.”
According to the Associated Press, Park’s body will lie in state at St. Paul AME Church in Montgomery on Saturday and Sunday.
In Detroit, a viewing is scheduled from 6 a.m. to midnight on Nov. 1 at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. A funeral service will be held Nov. 2 at the Greater Grace Temple at 11 a.m. Burial will follow the funeral service at Woodlawn Cemetery, where Parks’ mother, brother and husband are buried.