Rosa Parks Day in California

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 116, Herb Wesson

This measure would proclaim Rosa Park's birthday, Friday, February 4, 2000, and the first Monday following February 4 of each subsequent year, as Rosa Parks Day in California.

WHEREAS, Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee,
Alabama, the first child of James and Leona (Edwards) McCauley; and
WHEREAS, Rosa Louise McCauley married Raymond Parks on December
18, 1932; and
WHEREAS, 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; and
WHEREAS, Rosa Parks' arrest for refusing to comply with Montgomery's
segregation law was the impetus for a boycott of Montgomery buses,
led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by approximately 42,000 African Americans
for 381 days; and
WHEREAS, On November 13, 1956, the United States Supreme Court
ruled that Montgomery's segregation law was unconstitutional, and on
December 20, 1956, Montgomery officials were ordered to desegregate
buses; and
WHEREAS, Rosa Parks is honored as the "Mother of the Modern Day
Civil Rights Movement," because her refusal to surrender her seat in
compliance with Montgomery's segregation law inspired the civil
rights movement, which has resulted in the breakdown of numerous
legal barriers and the lessening of profound discrimination against
African Americans in this country; and
WHEREAS, The courage and conviction of Rosa Parks laid the
foundation for equal rights for all Americans and for the Civil
Rights Act of 1964; and
WHEREAS, Rosa Parks was the first woman to join the Montgomery
chapter of the NAACP, and was an active volunteer for the Montgomery
Voters League; and
WHEREAS, Rosa Parks cofounded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute
for Self Development in 1987 with Elaine Easton Steele to motivate
and direct youth to achieve their highest potential through the
"Pathways to Freedom" program; and
WHEREAS, Rosa Parks is the recipient of many awards including the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor,
the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, the highest honor Congress can
bestow upon a civilian, and the first International Freedom
Conductor Award from the National Underground Railroad Freedom
Center, among many other awards and honors; and
WHEREAS, Rosa Parks has dedicated her life to the cause of human
rights and truly embodies the love of humanity and freedom; now,
therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California
hereby declares her birthday, Friday, February 4, 2000, and the first
Monday following February 4 of each subsequent year, as Rosa Parks
Day and urges all Californians to pay homage to this great American
woman; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.