Roseville Transit will honor a civil rights icon today, Saturday, November 30 by taking part in the National Transit Tribute to Rosa Parks Day by reserving a front bus seat in her honor, and will proclaim the day on transit reader boards as buses drive around town.
The tribute marks the December 1 anniversary of Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus.
Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a public bus to a white passenger resulted in her being arrested for disorderly conduct. After her arrest, she was one of four women who filed a lawsuit challenging Alabama’s segregation laws that was eventually upheld by the United States Supreme Court in November, 1956. Parks’ non-violent civil disobedience against racial injustices sparked the beginning of the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott, and a national civil rights movement. In 1996, Parks received the highest U.S. civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.