Mr. Speaker, the woman affectionately referred to as the mother of the civil rights movement in the United States died yesterday at the age of 92.
December 1, 1955, was a landmark date in the fight against segregation laws in the United States. On a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, a black seamstress took a seat reserved for whites and refused to give it up to a white man. That woman was Rosa Parks.
For her act of defiance, she was arrested and fined $14. A campaign to boycott the bus company ensued and lasted 381 days. The campaign was orchestrated by a young minister who would become famous in his own right: Martin Luther King. The following year, the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregation unconstitutional. Rosa Parks will forever remain an inspiration in our struggle to achieve peace, equality and freedom.