US leaders honour Rosa Parks
2005-10-31 08:05
Washington - Thousands of African-Americans lined up outside the United States Capitol on Sunday to pay homage to civil rights activist Rosa Parks, saying her work had more effect on their lives than any other person's.
President George W Bush and other top US leaders joined in the Capitol rites to honour Parks, the icon of generations of black Americans who died earlier this week at 92.
Parks, a diminutive seamstress whose simple act of civil disobedience sparked more than a decade of activism for black equality, received an extremely rare tribute when Congress allowed her body to lie in honour in the Capitol's grand Rotunda.
Parks inspired acts of defiance
She is the first woman ever to receive the honour, which is almost always reserved for US presidents and eminent political figures.
Only 30 people before her, the last president Ronald Reagan in 2004, have been similarly honoured since 1852.
"I'm here to honour one of the bravest women in the world," said Gladys Johnson of Clinton, Maryland.
Born February 4 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama, Parks was one of the first women to join the Montgomery, Alabama chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) and served as the civil rights group's secretary from 1943 to 1956.
She rocketed to national prominence when, in racially segregated Montgomery in 1955, she refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, violating local laws.
Her arrest and fine for the act sparked a lengthy city-wide bus boycott by black riders, and inspired other acts of defiance that blossomed into the national civil rights movement.
Seeking an end to racial injustice
Although the movement was non-violent, the white response was not. Parks left Montgomery for Detroit, Michigan in 1957, after continuing death threats.
The protest ended only after the US Supreme Court ruled on November 13 1956 that segregation on city buses was unconstitutional. That ruling encouraged others to seek an end to racial injustice around the country.
On Friday Congress declared in a resolution that her body should lie in the Capitol "so that the citizens of the United States may pay their last respects to this great American".
"Rosa Parks's brave and simple act ignited a movement that rewove America's social fabric," said senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
"Allowing Mrs Parks to lie in honour here is a testament to the impact of her life on
both our nation's history and future," he added.
Flags flown at half-mast
On Sunday, Bush ordered US flags flown at half-staff to honour Parks at the White House and all public buildings and grounds on Wednesday, when she was to be buried in Detroit.
Outside the Capitol on Sunday, as many as 10 000 people, mostly African-Americans waited in a mood tinged with joy and sadness, some for more than 10 hours, to pay their respects.
"She changed America," said Margo Jackson Spencer of Fort Washington, Maryland.
Parks's body was flown to Washington following a memorial service on Sunday in Montgomery, where she was eulogised by black leaders including Jesse Jackson, secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and actress Cicely Tyson, who played Parks in a biographical movie.
"I can honestly say that if it was not for Mrs Parks, I would probably not be standing here today as secretary of state," Rice said.
Her body will lie in honour on Monday morning, before being flown back to her adopted hometown Detroit for burial.