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A Detroit intersection honors Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. Plans are under way to mark the 50th anniversary of Parks' refusal to move to the back of a bus in Alabama.Detroit plans ways to remember a heroine
Federal building could be renamed; Henry Ford, NAACP plan to mark 50th anniversary of bus boycott.
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DETROIT -- Even as the city mourned her death, plans were being laid Tuesday to continue the legacy of Rosa Parks, who adopted Detroit as her home in 1957.
Proposals have been introduced in the U.S. House and Senate to name the building that houses the Federal Homeland Security Office the Rosa Parks Federal Building, said U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit.
They are backed by all members of Michigan's congressional delegation, and are pending in separate committees, she said.
Cheeks Kilpatrick said she hopes the measure will reach the House floor shortly.
It will help Detroit remember Parks and her contributions to the civil rights movement, the congresswoman said.
"Even in her passing, it makes it that much more important," Cheeks Kilpatrick said. "As soon as the legislation is passed, on or before Dec. 1, it will be known as the Rosa Parks Federal Building. Not only is this proper and appropriate, but it's something Detroiters can be proud of and children can see. We look forward to it happening."
Dec. 1 marks the 50th anniversary of Parks' refusal to move to the back of the Cleveland Avenue bus in Montgomery, Ala. That incident was a major impetus in the U.S. civil rights movement.
Celebrations of the Dec. 1 golden anniversary are moving ahead, despite her death Monday at age 92.
The Henry Ford American history complex in Dearborn plans a daylong event with drama and musical performers and guest speakers.
The observance, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 1 in the museum's plaza, will feature Donnie Williams and Wayne Greenhaw, authors of "Thunder of Angels," a book on the yearlong bus boycott in Montgomery.
"Whether (the celebration) will change a little bit, we don't know," Henry Ford public relations director Wendy Metros said Tuesday. "I don't believe it will change in any way. We were doing this anyway, commemorating the bus boycott and honoring Mrs. Parks."
After the 36-passenger Cleveland Avenue bus had sat rusting in a field for 30 years, The Henry Ford bought and renovated it. It is now exhibited in an honored place, near presidential limousines, near the front of the museum.
The Henry Ford paid $427,919 for the bus at a Chicago auction in October 2001. It also purchased the City Bus Lines scrapbook of newspaper articles and a bus driver's uniform offered for sale from a retired employee who had started working for the company in 1954.
The executive board of the Detroit Branch NAACP is to meet at 4 p.m. Thursday to iron out its plans for the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott.
You can reach Darren A. Nichols at (734) 462-2190 or dnichols@detnews.com.
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