The Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama, the first child of James and Leona (Edwards) McCauley.

(2) Rosa Parks is honored as the ‘first lady of civil rights’ and the ‘mother of the freedom movement’; her quiet dignity ignited the most significant social movement in the history of the United States.

(3) Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, and her stand for equal rights became legendary.

(4) News of Rosa Parks’ arrest resulted in 42,000 African Americans boycotting Montgomery buses for 381 days beginning on December 5, 1955, until the bus segregation laws were changed on December 21, 1956.

(5) The United States Supreme Court ruled on November 13, 1956, that the Montgomery segregation law was unconstitutional, and on December 20, 1956, Montgomery officials were ordered to desegregate buses.

(6) The civil rights movement led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which broke down the barriers of legal discrimination against African Americans and made equality before the law a reality for all Americans.

(7) Rosa Parks is the recipient of many awards and accolades for her efforts on behalf of racial harmony, including the Springarn Award, the NAACP’s highest honor for civil rights contributions, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civilian honor, and the first International Freedom Conductor Award from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

(8) Rosa Parks has dedicated her life to the cause of universal human rights and truly embodies the love of humanity and freedom.

(9) Rosa Parks was the first woman to join the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP, was an active volunteer for the Montgomery Voters League, and in 1987 cofounded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development.

(10) Rosa Parks, by her quiet courage, symbolizes all that is vital about nonviolent protest; she endured threats of death and persisted as an advocate for the simple, basic lessons she taught the Nation and from which the Nation has benefited immeasurably.

(11) Rosa Parks has become a living icon for freedom in America.