Civil Rights Pioneer Rosa Parks Dead At 92
Daughter Of Detroit Made Home Here In 1957
POSTED: Monday, October 24, 2005
UPDATED: 7:23 am EDT October 26,
2005
Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks died Monday at her residence in Detroit. She was 92.
Parks died at her residence in the Riverfront Apartments of natural causes Monday with friends and family by her side, Local 4 reported.
Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955 landed her in jail and sparked a bus boycott that is considered the start of the modern civil rights movement. The bus is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. On Tuesday, the bus was draped in black and visitors streamed in to see the historic icon.
Parks was born Feb. 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Ala. She moved to Detroit in 1957 with her husband, Raymond, and found refuge from death threats and a job working for Rep. John Conyers' (D-Mich.) office as an aide from 1965 until retiring in 1988. Raymond Parks died in 1977.
In 1975, the city honored the legend who made her home in Detroit. It renamed 12th Street, which is now known as Rosa Parks Boulevard.
No specific funeral arrangements have been announced.
Federal Building May Be Named For Parks
Proposals in the House and Senate would name the building that houses the local Homeland Security Office the "Rosa Parks Federal Building."
Michigan's entire congressional delegation supports the proposals, which are pending in separate committees.
Copyright 2005 by ClickOnDetroit.com.
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