Freedom®
"Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others."
-Rosa Parks
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A Rose In Honor of
Rosa Parks
Mother of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement
Organic Style will donate 10% of the proceeds from the sale of this bouquet to the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development.
Rosa Parks, Freedom's Quiet Strength
On December 1, 1955, 42-year-old Rosa Parks boarded a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. A few stops later, a white man boarded the crowded bus and had to stand in the aisle. When the driver demanded that she give up her seat for the man, Rosa Parks remained seated. The driver called the police, who arrested Mrs. Parks, but her courageous act initiated a citywide bus boycott led by Martin Luther King, Jr. that lasted 381 days.
On February 1, 1956, the Montgomery Improvement Association filed suit in the U.S. District Court, challenging the constitutionality of segregated public transportation. In June of 1956, the U.S. District Court ruled in favor of the Improvement Association. When the city appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, the higher court affirmed the lower court's ruling, declaring segregation on buses unconstitutional. The decision was implemented on December 20, 1956. With her quiet strength, Rosa Parks gave birth to the modern day civil rights movement.
In Honor of Rosa Parks
| "I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people."
-Rosa Parks
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During her lifetime, Mrs. Parks received more than 43 honorary doctorate degrees and hundreds of other honors. In September 1996, President William J. Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, presented Rosa Parks with the Medal of Freedom, the highest award given to a civilian. In 1999, she was the 250th individual to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. At her passing, the United States Congress was suspended with many of its members being flown to Detroit to pay their respects. Rosa Parks became the first woman to lie in honor at the U. S. Capitol Rotunda.
"When the history of this country is written, it is this small, quiet woman whose name will be remembered long after the names of senators and presidents have been forgotten." —Barack Obama
In 1987, in honor of her husband, Rosa Parks founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development with the aim of motivating and directing youth to reach their highest potential. www.rosaparks.org
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