LEWISTON – In honor of Rosa Parks’ legacy of leadership and life contributions to the struggle for civil and human rights, the Martin Luther King Day Committee of Bates College will hold a program in memory and appreciation from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. today in the Benjamin Mays Center. The public is invited to attend the free event.

Parks’ refusal on Dec. 1, 1955, to obey the laws requiring segregated seating on public buses in Montgomery, Ala., was part of a systematic pattern of resistance by African-American women. Her subsequent arrest, booking and imprisonment sparked the Montgomery bus boycott that projected Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., into the national and international spotlight.

The theme of the committee’s memorial program, “I Was Tired of Discrimination,” is taken from Parks’ comment that her resistance to giving up her seat to a white passenger was not a matter of her being physically tired from her daily work, but due to her exhaustion from being treated as a second-class citizen.

Members of all sectors of the Bates and Lewiston community are invited to offer their comments, perspectives and eulogies to Parks, and all are welcome to contribute to the program. Those who would like to participate are asked to e-mail their name and description of what they would like to do to [email protected].