Golden Gate Transit Salutes Rosa Parks Day in California

Happy Birthday Dear Rosa, may you live forever in the hearts and minds of mankind.

February 8, 2010, will mark the 10th Anniversary of the State of California’s Rosa Parks Day, California State Capitol, Room 126, 5:30 p.m. ~ 7:30 p.m. Black Agriculture in the 21st Century ~ Healthy Solutions Project hosts a Gala Celebration to honor of Rosa Parks and 9 modern California Women Warriors who demonstrate the faith and courage of Dear Rosa.

We urge local educational celebrations for Rosa Parks Day and broader support for our Gala Celebration in our State Capitol, Sacramento to make sure Transportation remains a high priority for our California State Legislature.

A growing number of leading California Transit authorities are helping to share the legacy of our American icon, Rosa Parks on her birthday and throughout Black History Month 2010.

Together, we can share today's opportunities in job creation, career development building sustainable communities with strong public transportation systems and commercial transportation systems that supports our California economy.

In 2000, the California State Legislature declared Rosa Parks birthday, Friday, February 4, 2000, and the first Monday following February 4 of each subsequent year, as Rosa Parks Day. All Californians are urged to pay homage to this great American woman for her historic civil rights actions.

Golden Gate Transit (GGT) will honor Rosa Parks Day during the month of February 2010 by:

Placing a special decal, 4” by 6”, on the window of the first seat of all GGT buses.

Placing informational posters honoring Parks at the San Rafel Transit Center, and in bus shelters at key transfer points including the Golden Gate Bridge Toll Plaza, Marin City, and San Anselmo.

Additional Background

Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama, the first child of James and Leona (Edwards) McCauley; Rosa Louise McCauley married Raymond Parks on December 18, 1932. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, an African American seamstress, refused to relinquish her seat on a public transit bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking a year-long bus boycott in the city lead by Marin Luther King, Jr, with more than 40,000 African Americans participating. On November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Montgomery's segregation law was unconstitutional, and on December 20, 1956, Montgomery officials were ordered to desegregate buses. She passed away on October 24, 2005, at the age of 92. Rosa Parks was launched to prominence as the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.” Her courage and conviction of Rosa Parks laid the foundation for equal rights for all Americans and for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.