DETROIT (AP) – In the city where she died and the city where she sparked the civil rights movement, the front of the bus is reserved for Rosa Parks.
Detroit and Montgomery, Ala., are reserving the first seats of their buses as a tribute to Parks’ legacy until her funeral next week.
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick placed a black ribbon Thursday morning on the first passenger seat of one of about 200 buses where seats will be reserved.
“We cannot do enough to pay tribute to someone who has so positively impacted the lives of millions across the world,” Kilpatrick said in a statement.
In some buses in Montgomery, the first seat was being covered with black fabric and a photograph of Parks was being displayed, according to the Montgomery Area Transit System.
“This gesture, in conjunction with the city of Detroit, is appropriate in the two communities that Mrs. Parks called home,” said Montgomery County Judge Lynn Bright, first lady of Montgomery.
Officials elsewhere were offering similar tributes.
The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority honored Parks by putting signs above seats in the front of 12 downtown buses that read: “This seat is reserved for no one. RTA honors the woman who took a stand by sitting down. Rosa Parks 1913-2005.”
Parks, the black woman who refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery in 1955, died Monday in Detroit at age 92. Parks, credited as a catalyst for the modern civil rights movement, moved to Detroit in 1957 after encountering threats, harassment and trouble finding work in Montgomery.
Parks’ funeral is scheduled for Wednesday in Detroit.
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On the Net:
City of Detroit: http://www.ci.detroit.mi.us
City of Montgomery, Ala.: http://www.ci.montgomery.al.us
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