By ANDREW GLASS
12/1/10 4:58 AM EST

On this day in 1955, Rosa Parks, an African-American, was arrested and charged with violating a Montgomery, Ala., ordinance that required her to relinquish her bus seat to a white passenger. Her act of defiance sparked a yearlong bus boycott in the segregated city. It helped inspire a crusade that led Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which, among other things, bars discrimination in public accommodations.

Parks’s status as an iconic figure in the civil rights movement began when she was seated in the first row of the rear, which was set aside for blacks. Because the front of the bus was full, the driver demanded that she give up her seat to a white rider. Her failure to do so resulted in a $10 fine, plus an additional $4 in court costs. In 1956, the Supreme Court found the ordinance unconstitutional.

At the time, Parks, a 42-year-old seamstress, served as secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She said that she took her action as a private citizen, however, because she was “tired of giving in.”

After her arrest, the Montgomery department store where she worked fired her. Eventually, Parks moved to Detroit, where she found a similar job. From 1965 to 1988, she was a receptionist for Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.).

On Sept. 9, 1996, President Bill Clinton presented Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the executive branch’s highest honor. In 1997, she received a Congressional Gold Medal.

After Parks died on Oct. 24, 2005, her body lay in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, where some 50,000 people viewed the casket. She remains the only nongovernmental American to receive this tribute.

SOURCE: “JOURNEY FROM JIM CROW: THE DESEGREGATION OF SOUTHERN TRANSIT,” BY CATHERINE BARNES (1983)

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Happy National Philanthropy Day November 15th 2010

Pennsylvania Organization set to launch one of a kind King Memorial in October 2010

The Martin Luther & Coretta Scott King Memorial Project of  Lehigh Valley Inc( Pennsylvania) is set to start construction
(mid October 2010) of the 'first and only Bronze Memorial in the World' dedicated to Dr. King and his wife Coretta. While there are several memorials throughout the country that honor the pair, this will be the first memorial dedicated to the Civil Rights ' First Couple' as a whole.

'Current world issues have made it even more important that we preserve the true legacy of these two great civil and human rights leaders.  Over the generations, the message from the King's has been lost, forgotten and even 'watered down' so to speak, explains Kevin Easterlng, the organizations Executive Director.

The memorials concept founder, the late Harry Roberts of Allentown Pennsylvania, had been working on building a memorial to Dr. King for the last decade. His untimely death in March of 2008 galvanized the local community to continue the project and expand on the idea.  An organization was formed and plans are now in place to commence what the organization calls a 'full assault' in reconnecting the King Legacy.   

The organization has developed a Granite Paver Program for members of the community to support and memorialize family, clergy or other community leaders.