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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Rosa Louise Parks was born on February 4, 1913 in
3Tuskegee, Alabama, the first child of James and Leona (Edwards)
4McCauley; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Rosa McCauley married Raymond Parks on December
618, 1932; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Rosa Parks was a member of the Montgomery chapter
8of the NAACP and was an active volunteer for the Montgomery
9Voters League; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955 in
11Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give up her seat on a bus
12to a white man, and her stand for equal rights became
13legendary; and
 
14    WHEREAS, The arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to comply
15with Montgomery's segregation law was the impetus for a boycott
16of Montgomery buses led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.;
17approximately 42,000 African Americans participated in the
18boycott which lasted for 381 days; and
 
19    WHEREAS, On November 13, 1956, the United States Supreme
20Court ruled that Montgomery's segregation law was

 

 

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1unconstitutional, and Montgomery officials were ordered to
2desegregate buses on December 20, 1956; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Rosa Parks is honored as the "Mother of the Modern
4Day Civil Rights Movement", because her refusal to surrender
5her seat in compliance with Montgomery's segregation law
6inspired the civil rights movement, which has resulted in the
7breakdown of numerous legal barriers and the lessening of
8profound discrimination against African Americans in this
9country; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The courage and conviction of Rosa Parks laid the
11foundation for equal rights for all Americans and for the Civil
12Rights Act of 1964; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Rosa Parks co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks
14Institute for Self Development in 1987 with Elaine Easton
15Steele to motivate and direct youth to achieve their highest
16potential through the Pathways to Freedom program; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Rosa Parks is the recipient of many awards
18including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's
19highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor,
20the highest honor Congress can bestow upon a civilian, and the
21Spingarn Medal, the NAACP's highest award; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Rosa Parks has dedicated her life to the cause of
2human rights and truly embodies the love of humanity and
3freedom; therefore, be it
 
4    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL
5ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare Monday,
6February 4, 2019 as "Rosa Parks Day" in the State of Illinois
7and urge all Illinoisans to pay homage to this great American
8Woman on the anniversary of her birth; and be it further
 
9    RESOLVED, That we commemorate the legacy of Rosa Parks to
10inspire all people of Illinois and the nation to stand up for
11freedom and the principles of the Constitution.