Recognizing 50th Anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
RECOGNIZING 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT -- (House of Representatives - December 06, 2005)
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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Committee on Government Reform, I am pleased to join with my colleague in consideration of H. Con. Res. 273, which recognizes the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott. This measure, sponsored by the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Rogers), has the support and cosponsorship of 73 Members of Congress.
Rosa Parks is a great American and hero of the civil rights movement in this country. Rosa Parks symbolizes the triumph of civility over aggression, as was represented in her act of civil disobedience on December 1, 1955.
On that day, Mrs. Rosa Parks and other African American bus riders sat in the fifth row of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. According to the law in Montgomery, blacks had to sit in the back of the bus if a white person wanted a seat in the front. The three people Rosa Parks was with complied with the request of the bus driver, but she refused. Mrs. Parks knew full well that this act could lead to arrest or even worse had she drawn the ire of white bus patrons. Armed with this knowledge she took a stand that would prove to inspire the African American community to rally behind her example and begin a movement that would change the course of history in our country.
This simple act of refusing to give her seat in the front of the bus to a white patron, an act that led to her arrest and incarceration, was the spark that ignited a movement. Word of her act of defiance spread through the African American community in Alabama like wildfire. Civil rights leaders like the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, and Ann Robinson, president of the Women's Political Council, and members of the NAACP convened to discuss the significance of this act of civil disobedience. They quickly decided to boycott the buses in Montgomery, Alabama.
The boycott that followed was ultimately successful when in November 1956 the United States Supreme Court upheld a Federal court ruling that stated that segregation on buses is unconstitutional. More important than desegregating the buses in Montgomery, the boycott signified the beginning of the civil rights movement in the United States.
Years later, civil rights leaders would invoke the memory of the bus boycott as the critical event that galvanized the movement. The bus boycott, and the action of Mrs. Rosa Parks, was the critical event that galvanized that movement, inspired countless future acts of civil disobedience and peaceful protest against racial injustice.
I would like to recognize the actions, as all of us do, of Mrs. Rosa Parks, who passed away on Monday, October 24, 2005, and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott. I urge my colleagues to join in recognition of this amazing moment in the history of all America and of all Americans.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I certainly commend the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Rogers) for his introduction of this resolution. And it is my pleasure now to yield such time as he might consume to the other distinguished gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Davis).
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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Davis) for his very eloquent characterization of the meaning of this resolution and the meaning of the life of Rosa Parks.
I yield such time as she might consume to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson).
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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time and urge passage of this resolution. I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I urge all members to support the adoption of H. Con. Res. 273. I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Boozman). The question is on the motion offered by the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) that the House suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 273.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor thereof) the rules were suspended and the concurrent resolution was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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