Detroit Honors Rosa Parks

October 27, 2005

Detroit Honors Rosa Parks
October 27, 2005 – This year’s Convention host city is honoring civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks by placing a black ribbon on the first seat of its city buses, reserving the spot as a tribute to her legacy until her funeral next week, according to the Detroit News.

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said that Montgomery, Ala., planned to offer the same tribute, and he encouraged cities across the country to follow suit.

"We cannot do enough to pay tribute to someone who has so positively impacted the lives of millions across the world," Kilpatrick said in a statement. "We think that this is a most appropriate tribute to such a wonderful human being who has changed all of our lives for the better."

Parks’ Dec. 1, 1955 arrest for not giving up her seat to a white man in Montgomery sparked what many view as the start of the modern civil rights movement. She died Monday at her Detroit home at the age of 92.

Parks’ funeral is scheduled for Wednesday in Detroit, following viewings in Washington, D.C., Montgomery and Detroit as part of a series of events that will allow the public to pay tribute to her.

Delegates at the NTA Annual Convention will have a chance to see the bus Parks made famous at the Sunday night event at The Henry Ford Museum. The museum features American innovations, national treasures and ideas that have changed the world. Other exhibits include "Behind the Magic: 50 Years of Disneyland," the presidential cars and the chair in which President Lincoln was shot.