Friday, October 28, 2005

Rosa Parks to lie in honor at Capitol

By Lisa Zagaroli and Oralandar Brand-Williams / Detroit News Washington Bureau

Honored in the Rotunda The Architect of the Capitol's list of those who have lain in state or in honor in the Capitol Rotunda: 1852: Henry Clay, Kentucky representative, senator and secretary of state. 1865: Abraham Lincoln, president. 1868: Thaddeus Stevens, Pennsylvania member of the House. 1874: Charles Sumner, Massachusetts senator. 1875: Henry Wilson, Massachusetts senator, vice president. 1881: James Garfield, president. 1886: John Alexander Logan, Illinois representative and senator. 1901: William McKinley, president. 1909: Pierre Charles L'Enfant, architect who designed Washington, D.C. 1917: George Dewey, admiral, hero of Manila Bay in Spanish-American War. 1921: Unknown soldier of World War I. 1923: Warren Harding, president. 1930: William Howard Taft, president. 1948: John Pershing, general of the armies of the United States. 1953: Robert Taft, Ohio senator. 1958: Unknown soldiers of World War II and the Korean War. 1963: John F. Kennedy, president. 1964: Douglas MacArthur, general during World War II, Korean War. 1964: Herbert Hoover, president. 1969: Dwight D. Eisenhower, president. 1969: Everett Dirksen, Illinois representative, senator. 1972: J. Edgar Hoover, first FBI director. 1973: Lyndon Johnson, president. 1978: Hubert Humphrey, vice president, Minnesota senator. 1984: Unknown soldier of the Vietnam era. 1989: Claude Pepper, Florida representative, senator. 1998: Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson, slain Capitol police officers. 2004: Ronald Reagan, president. Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

WASHINGTON -- Congress gave final approval Friday to a resolution to allow the public to pay respects to Rosa Parks in the U.S. Capitol building Sunday and Monday - a unique honor for a private citizen.

Parks' remains will travel from a nearby airport in a hearse followed by an antique bus carrying family and other close friends of the woman who sparked a civil rights movement by refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man.

After it arrives at the Capitol, the casket will be brought into the Rotunda where a choir will be playing at a brief ceremony involving prayers and the laying of wreaths, said Molly Cain, assistant superintendent of the House Press Gallery. Lawmakers and others are expected to attend.

The public will begin to file into the building beginning at 6 p.m. Sunday and will be allowed inside at least until midnight, Cain said. Another opportunity to pay respects to Parks will be from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday.

Earlier, friends and supporters of the civil rights leader had said they expected her body to lie in repose from 6 p.m. to midnight in the rotunda of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. But Reps. John Conyers and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, Detroit Democrats, gained support of legislative leaders to move the observance to the Capitol rotunda.

"I am very proud to claim Mrs. Parks as a resident of Michigan and to help lead the effort to honor her in this way," said Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids, who managed the legislation on the House floor today. "Rosa Parks was a great woman of immense courage and historical importance. I can think of no one else who deserves this honor more."

The House approved the resolution this afternoon and the Senate approved it late Thursday.

It says that "in recognition of the historic contributions of Rosa Parks, her remains be permitted to lie in honor in the rotunda of the Capitol from Oct. 30 to Oct. 31, 2005, so that the citizens of the United States may pay their last respects to this great American."

House Speaker Dennis Hastert said Parks' actions made the nation more "free and tolerant."

"The Capitol serves as a beacon of American liberty, freedom and democracy, and Rosa Parks served as the Mother of the America we grew to be - a rich, diverse nation of all shades, ethnicities and religions," he said.

In most cases, only presidents, members of Congress and military commanders have been permitted to lie in the rotunda.

Parks would be the first woman and second black American to receive the accolade. Jacob J. Chestnut, one of two Capitol police officers fatally shot in 1998, was the first black American to lie in honor, said Senate historian Richard Baker.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said it was fitting that Parks is the first woman honored in that manner.

"In honoring her legacy in this way, we are reminded that the power of one person, acting with a singularity of purpose, driven by the ideals of justice, is infinite," Pelosi said."As we grieve the loss of Rosa Parks, we recommit ourselves to her lifelong struggle to create an America that reflects the hopes and aspirations of all of its citizens."

Parks also would be the second nongovernmental official to be commemorated that way. The remains of Pierre L'Enfant - the French-born architect who was responsible for the design of Washington, D.C., - stopped at the Capitol in 1909 - 84 years after his death in 1825.

The most recent person to lie in repose in the Capitol was President Reagan in 2004.

The Capitol event was one of several planned to honor the civil rights pioneer.

Parks will lie in repose Saturday at the St. Paul AME Church in Montgomery, Ala., and a memorial service will be held at the church Sunday morning.

After the public viewing in the U.S. Capitol, a service is planned Monday at Metropolitan AME Church in Washington.

In Detroit, Parks family spent a second day working on details of her funeral with the Swanson Funeral Home in Detroit.

Parks will lie in state from 9 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Wednesday at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. From there, her body will be taken by horse-drawn carriage for 11 a.m. services at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit.

The procession will travel south on Woodward and west on Seven Mile. The lengthy distance will allow mourners to pay their respects as the carriage passes, said O'Neil Swanson, the funeral home's owner and director.

"This is one of the greatest honors that has been bestowed upon me," Swanson said. "Mother Parks selected me and chose me for 25 years ago. I'm just overwhelmed."

Parks' casket will be closed for church services in Montgomery and Washington, but open during public viewing at the Rotunda, at the Charles Wright Museum and during services at Greater Grace, according to the funeral home.

Burial will be at Woodlawn Cemetery, Detroit.

Burial will be at Woodlawn Cemetery, Detroit.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.