Civil Rights Pioneer Rosa Parks Honored with Capitol Statue

February 27, 2013

A civil rights pioneer, and her groundbreaking action, were remembered by President Obama and lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. They honored the late Rosa Parks with a full-sized statue of her in the Capitol Building.

It's a lasting tribute to Rosa Parks -- known as the mother of the U.S. civil rights movement.

Dignitaries gathered to unveil a nearly three-meter-tall bronze sculpture of Parks in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall. It honors the African-American woman who changed American history in 1955 when she refused to move to the back of a segrated bus.

"We celebrate a seamstress slight in stature but mighty in courage. She defied the odds, and she defied injustice," Obama said.

President Obama paid tribute to her courage.

"Rosa Parks' singular act of disobediance launched a movement. And that is why this statue belongs in this hall to remind us no matter how lofty just what it is that leadership requires, what citizenship requires," Obama said.

It's the first full-size statue of an African-American woman in the Capitol. It recognizes Park's signature achievement, her rejection of racial segregation in the south in the 1950s. Congressman James Clyburn said Parks holds a rightful place among the other titans of American History also on display.

"This statue forever ordains Rosa Parks status as an icon of our nation's struggles to live out its declaration that we are all created equal," Clyburn said.