PRESIDENT OBAMA UNVEILS ROSA PARKS STATUE AT CAPITOL
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) What do William Jennings Bryan, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Sam Houston, Robert E. Lee, Will Rogers, John Sevier, George Washington, Daniel Webster & Rosa Parks have in common?
As of today, February 27, 2013, all of these American heroes have statues on display at the United States Capitol.
President Barack Obama unveiled this morning the statue of Rosa Parks, the 1st African-American woman to be so honored in National Statuary Hall.*
President Obama & Rosa Parks Statue
with Sheila & Elaine Eason Keys
Relatives of Rosa Parks
February 27, 2013
Photo by Chuck Kennedy
White House Image
*National Statuary Hall, located south of the Rotunda, was where the US House of Representatives assembled from 1807 to 1857. Today it is the home of statues representing the favorite sons & daughters of the States of the Union.
National Statuary Hall
United States Capitol
Washington, D.C.
On December 1, 1955, 42 year old Rosa Parks, a seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
Ms. Parks' arrest for violating Montgomery's segregation laws touched off a year long boycott & subsequent 1956 ruling by the US Supreme Court that segregation in public transportation is unconstitutional.
President Obama Sits on Bus
Henry Ford Museum Dearborn, Michigan
Photo by Pete Souza
White House Image
The 9 foot tall 2100 pound bronze statue, the work of Eugene Daub of San Pedro, California, depicts Ms. Parks with the same clothing she was wearing on the day of her arrest.
President Obama said...
"We can do no greater honor...than to carry forward (Rosa Parks) principle of courage born of conviction."
SOURCES
"Larger than life civil rights icon honored with statue in Capitol," by Corinna Jones, CNN, February 27, 2013.
"Strength from stillness: Rosa Parks Statue Unveiled in U.S. Capitol," by erin McClam, www.usnews.nbcnews.com/
"The White House Blog, "Rosa Parks has a Permanent Place in the U.S. Capitol," by Matt Compton, February 27, 2013.
You Tube Video
