Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Civil rights legend dies at age 92

Adopted Detroiter refused to give up her bus seat to a white rider in 1955

By Oralandar Brand-Williams / The Detroit; News

Rosa Parks Rosa Parks' legacy Rosa Parks established herself as a civil rights legend when, in 1955, she refused to give up her bus seat to a white rider. Her defiance sparked the flame of the modern civil rights movement. How did Rosa Parks make a difference in your life? Get results and comments Error processing SSI file Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

Courage in the face of oppression; resistance in the face of injustice. That is the enduring legacy of Rosa Parks, whose defiance on a racially segregated Montgomery, Ala., bus lit the flame of the modern civil rights movement and inspired freedom movements from South Africa to Poland.

Parks died Monday, Oct. 24, 2005, at home in Detroit. She was 92.

"She was peaceful," said Elaine Steele, Parks’ longtime assistant and companion. "She passed away in her sleep. I was there with her and her doctor."

On Dec. 1, 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus.

Her quiet stand against racial segregation that day galvanized the modern civil rights movement and catapulted the softspoken woman into history.

"I had no idea when I refused to give up my seat on that Montgomery bus that my small action would help put an end to segregation laws in the south," wrote Parks in the 1992 book "Rosa Parks: My Story."

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said Monday that Parks is one of the "most important figures in the history of the world."

"She ignited a fire in this country," Kilpatrick said as he stood outside the Riverfront Towers apartment where Parks lived. "The world owes her a debt of gratitude. I think this is a day we all can remember, just like we remember (Dec. 1) 1955."

Kilpatrick said the city of Detroit will host a public memorial to honor Parks on Dec. 1 — 50 years after she made her historic stand against racial segregation.

The Rev. Wendell Anthony, the president of the Detroit NAACP, said Parks was selected and appointed by God and man to be the one to ignite the modern civil rights battle.

"I thank God she died as she lived … peacefully," Anthony said Monday. "Rosa Parks definitely made an impact on us in terms of what we did and what we have to do.

"Here was a woman who was attacked in Detroit; (the attacker) knocked her down and took her purse, and she wound up forgiving him," he said.

Parks has been honored in songs, books and plays. She had streets, museums and schools named for her, assuring that her contributions and place in history will echo for generations.

She was cited by presidents and foreign nations, testimonials to the kind of worldwide fame she could never have envisioned when she refused to move to another seat for a white passenger. "Her name is a code word against totalitarian governments," said author and civil rights historian Douglas Brinkley, who published the biography "Rosa Parks" in 2000.

"There are really three names that have really resonated in the shanty towns of Third World countries around the world.

"They are Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Bob Marley. They are more loved by poor people than any other historical figures in recent memory," Brinkley said.

When former South African President Nelson Mandela visited Detroit in 1990, the elder statesman was overcome with emotion as he greeted Parks.

"Tears filled his eyes as he walked up to the small, old woman with her hair in two silver braids crossed atop her head," wrote Brinkley in the Parks biography.

"And, in a low, melodious tone, Mandela began to chant ‘Rosa, Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks.’" Mandela, along with Parks, made Time magazine’s "100 Most Influential Persons of the 20th Century" list in 1999. Also honored were King and Mohandas Gandhi.

Parks inspired freedom seekers of all backgrounds, including JapaneseAmericans who sought reparations for their internment in camps in the United States during World War II.

"The whole reason we’re here," said Ron Wakabayashi, a former commissioner of the Los Angeles Commission on Human Relations, "is not because she was treated badly, but because she responded to it so courageously."

In 1996, Parks was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Three years later, in June 1999, Parks received the Congressional Gold Medal before a crowd at the U.S. Capitol.

President Clinton remarked how he, at age 9, and his friends rode in the back of segregated buses to show support for Parks.

"We must never forget about the power of ordinary people to stand in the fire for the cause of human dignity, and to touch the hearts of people who have almost turned to stone," he said.

Five months later, in November, Parks was presented with the actual medallion for the Congressional Gold Medal at a starstudded celebration at Detroit’s Orchestra Hall. Vice President Al Gore presented the medal at the soldout tribute.

In 1998, Parks received the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center’s first International Freedom Conductor Award during ceremonies in Cincinnati.

Across the country, hundreds of schools bear Parks’ name. Schoolchildren honor her in speeches, poems and plays during Black History Month every February and throughout the year. Composers, playwrights and musicians of all stripes have honored her. An Internet search produces thousands of sites, many devoted to her life and legacy.

In 1989, the popular band the Neville Brothers wrote the song "Sister Rosa" in her honor.

"I have children who are 18, 16 and 7, and they all listen to rap music," Cyril Neville, one of the writers, told the Chicago Tribune in 1989.

"When I found it was hard for them to remember their homework, but easy for them to learn rap songs, Daryl Johnson (the other writer) and I decided to take our AfricanAmerican history, put it to a beat and rap it out.

"It’s desperately important for kids today to have a better outlook on themselves than we had when we were growing up."

In February 2001, noted national playwright Von Washington wrote a play about Parks’ life, "Rosa Parks: More Than a Bus Story." The play has been shown at colleges throughout Michigan and Ohio. Washington also took his theatrical work to Troy State University in Montgomery, Ala., site of the Rosa Parks Museum.

Washington, a professor at Western Michigan University, said he wanted the world to know that there was much more to Parks’ story than a woman and a bus. His work was the first dramatization of her life to receive authorization from the civil rights pioneer.

"It’s a very poignant look at someone who has risen to international acclaim as a woman sitting on a bus and becoming the catalyst for an international (civil rights) movement," he said.

Musician Michael Daugherty, a composerinresidence for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 200003, produced a work called "Rosa Parks Boulevard."

At the time, Daugherty said he saw himself as a soul mate of Parks’.

"Rosa Parks is someone who challenged society and pushed the boundaries," he said.

"She’s also a very humble person and softspoken. Her manner led me to write the piece in a more laidback style."

Parks’ legacy also reaches to the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, which she founded to make young people more aware of civil rights history.

The institute receives hundreds of letters each year from schoolchildren.

"We get so many letters," said Anita Peek, executive director of the Detroitbased nonprofit institute. "We get letters every day."

Jennifer Dye, then a thirdgrader from San Antonio, wrote Parks in February 2001 and gave money she got for Christmas to the organization.

"I am sorry for what happened to you in December of 1955," Jennifer wrote.

"I still can’t understand why white people (like myself) did all those mean things to black people (like yourself).

"I wish I could take away all the hatred and prejudice in the world, but I cannot. I can, however, help make your day special and a difference in your life by giving you money.

"I am proud of you and you used up a lot of courage."

Art Featherstone, who worked with Parks at the Detroit office of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, DDetroit, said Parks remained deeply affected by those early memories of discrimination and violence in the South.

"When she was a girl ... she could remember the Klan riding at night, and how they were always afraid that they might come and burn the house while they were asleep," Featherstone said.

"And Rosa talked about a lynching that took place sometime way back when she was young. I guess it stayed in the back of her mind."

At the dedication of the Rosa Parks Library and Museum in Montgomery in December 2000, Parks recalled the quiet act of civil disobedience that thrust her onto the world stage.

"In 1955, when I was arrested ... I had no way of knowing what the future held," she said.

"I certainly never thought I would be remembered in such a grand manner."