Senate Bill sb0046B
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Florida Senate - 2005 (NP) SR 46-B
By Senator Hill
1-876-06 See HR 9001-B
1 Senate Resolution
2 A resolution honoring the memory and the legacy
3 of Rosa Parks.
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5 WHEREAS, born in Tuskegee, Alabama, nearly a century
6 ago to James and Leona McCauley, Rosa Louise McCauley was
7 enrolled at the age of 11 years in the Montgomery Industrial
8 School for Girls and later attended the Alabama State Teachers
9 College High School, and
10 WHEREAS, Rosa McCauley married Raymond Parks in 1932,
11 and the couple settled in Montgomery, working together in that
12 city's branch of the National Association for the Advancement
13 of Colored People, Raymond as an active member and Rosa as a
14 secretary and youth leader, and
15 WHEREAS, on December 1, 1955, Mrs. Parks refused to
16 surrender her seat on a city bus to a white man as the laws of
17 segregation required and was promptly arrested, convicted of
18 breaking the law, and fined $10 plus $4 in court costs, a
19 sequence of events that triggered the 381-day Montgomery bus
20 boycott and led to organized protests throughout the nation as
21 aroused African Americans were joined by other courageous
22 citizens to demand equal rights for all, and
23 WHEREAS, in 1965, Mrs. Parks joined the staff of
24 Michigan Congressman John Conyers and served as a valued
25 employee for 23 years until her retirement at age 75,
26 meanwhile establishing the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute
27 for Self Development, a nonprofit organization designed to
28 motivate young people to strive toward reaching their highest
29 potential, and
30 WHEREAS, the bold action of quiet dignity by Rosa Parks
31 in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1 a little more than 50
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Florida Senate - 2005 (NP) SR 46-B
1-876-06 See HR 9001-B
1 years ago and the ensuing nationwide acts of civil
2 disobedience not only led to the desegregation of the public
3 transportation system in Montgomery but is generally pointed
4 to by historians as the beginning of the modern-day Civil
5 Rights Movement in the United States, and
6 WHEREAS, during a lifetime spanning 92 years, from
7 February 4, 1913, to October 25, 2005, Rosa Parks, named by
8 Time Magazine in 1999 as one of the "Top 20 Most Influential
9 People of the 20th Century," received numerous commendations
10 for her dedication to the struggle against injustice and
11 inequality, including the NAACP's highest honor, the Spingarn
12 Medal, in 1979, and the Martin Luther King, Jr., Nonviolent
13 Peace Prize in 1980; was inducted into the Michigan Women's
14 Hall of Fame in 1983; received the Rosa Parks Peace Prize in
15 Stockholm in 1994 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the
16 highest honor given by the United States Executive Branch, in
17 1996; became the first recipient of the National Underground
18 Railroad Freedom Center's International Freedom Conductor
19 Award in 1998; and was given the Congressional Gold Medal, the
20 highest award given by the United States Legislative Branch,
21 and the Detroit Windsor International Freedom Festival Award,
22 and
23 WHEREAS, in her death Rosa Parks was honored as has
24 been no other woman before her when she became the first
25 female and only the second African American to lie in honor in
26 the Rotunda of the United States Capitol, an expression of
27 profound respect further heightened by President George W.
28 Bush's order that American flags be flown at half staff around
29 the world on the day of her interment, NOW, THEREFORE,
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31 Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
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Florida Senate - 2005 (NP) SR 46-B
1-876-06 See HR 9001-B
1 That the Members of the Senate pause in their
2 deliberations to mourn the death of one of the nation's most
3 courageous citizens and to express their admiration for Rosa
4 Louise McCauley Parks, who remained committed to the cause of
5 freedom throughout her lifetime, speaking out against
6 injustice in America and abroad, and who came to be called the
7 "First Lady of Civil Rights."
8 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution
9 be presented to the Rosa Parks Library and Museum on the
10 campus of Troy State University, 252 Montgomery Street,
11 Montgomery, Alabama 36104, for display or other use as it may
12 find appropriate.
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