On the recordApril 20, 1999
Mr. Speaker, Rosa Parks, the mother of the civil rights movement, with one simple act of defiance in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks set off a revolution that made this country live up to its constitutional ideals. When Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior, proclaimed his famous ``I have a dream speech'' atop the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he lay before America a vision of a society free of hatred and inequality. Rosa Parks provided the initial spark for this broad movement on December 1, 1955, by bravely refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger after a long day of work. Mr. Speaker, today we celebrate her courage with the passage of legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal to this remarkable woman. Her action helped to trigger the civil rights movement. Rosa Parks' simple refusal brought her, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the arduous struggle for equality to the attention of our Nation.
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