Civil rights icon Rosa Parks is being honored across Tennessee on Tuesday (December 1) on the 65th anniversary of her refusal to give up her seat on an Alabama bus. Her decision to stay seated sparked the Montgomery bus boycott that lasted more than a year and is one of the defining moments of the U.S. civil rights movement.
Nashville's WeGo Public Transit and Memphis Area Transit Authority will recognize Parks' contribution to the movement by keeping one seat open on every bus along with a placard that shows her impact on racial justice and equality. Parks was arrested when she refused to give her seat on the bus to a white man. To show the injustice, African Americans in Montgomery boycott the transportation system for 381 days. This demonstration eventually led to the a Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public transportation was unconstitutional.
"In recognition of the leading role that Mrs. Rosa L. Parks played in the civil rights history of the United States by sparking the Montgomery bus boycott on December 1, 1955, we ask that riders sitting in this seat observe a moment of silence to reflect on the legacy her action created," WeGo said in a statement.
"She took a stand by sitting down, it was really important for us as Black women in Tennessee where there are so many critical parts of the civil rights movement played in Memphis and in Nashville and even in East Tennessee," said Sen. Raumesh Akbari, who sponsored legislation to make Rosa Parks Day a state holiday in 2019. "We really felt it was important to make this happen."
Metro and Memphis join other cities across the state in recognizing Parks' impact on the country's civil rights movement, including Knoxville Area Transit, Clarksville Transit System, and Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority.
Photo: Getty Images