Congressional Black Caucus
"The Conscience of Congress since 1969"
www.congressionalblackcaucus.net

(Washington, D.C.) - U.S. Representative Melvin L. Watt (D-NC), Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), today released the following statement on the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks’ refusal to yield her seat on a Montgomery bus:

“Today marks the 50th Anniversary of Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man on a Montgomery bus.  This simple act of defiance sparked the modern day civil rights movement and the 381-day bus boycott that followed.  Because of Ms. Parks' courage, America is a better place.
 
“The members of the CBC would also like to congratulate U.S. Representative Jesse L.  Jackson, Jr., and Senator John Kerry for shepherding through the Congress, and the President signing into law today, a bill directing that a statue of Ms. Parks be placed in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall.  Ms. Parks, who died October 24 at age 92, will be the first African American woman represented in Statuary Hall.  Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., is the only other African American whose image is displayed in Statuary Hall.”
 

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