Congressional Push for 'Rosa Parks Day' Federal Holiday on 68th Anniversary of Historic Civil Rights Act
The proposed holiday aims to honor Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat sparked the Civil Rights Movement and led to the Supreme Court ruling against bus segregation laws.
- 68 years ago, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Civil Rights Movement.
- Parks' act of civil disobedience was not due to physical tiredness, but a refusal to continue submitting to unjust laws.
- Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are pushing for a bill to declare December 1, the anniversary of Parks' arrest, as 'Rosa Parks Day', a federal holiday.
- The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted for over a year, heavily impacting the transit system as Black citizens, who made up the majority of bus riders, chose to carpool or walk instead.
- The U.S. Supreme Court eventually struck down Alabama state and Montgomery city bus segregation laws as being in violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.