Rosa Parks - Legacy and Honors

Legacy and Honors

• 1976, Detroit renamed 12th Street "Rosa Parks Boulevard."
• 1979, the NAACP awarded Parks the Spingarn Medal, its highest honor,
• 1980, she received the Martin Luther King Jr. Award.
• 1983, she was inducted into Michigan Women's Hall of Fame for her achievements in civil rights.
• 1990,
  • Parks was invited to be part of the group welcoming Nelson Mandela upon his release from prison in South Africa.
  • Parks was in attendance as part of Interstate 475 outside of Toledo, Ohio is named after Parks.
• 1992, she received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award along with Dr. Benjamin Spock and others at the Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1995, she received the Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award in Williamsburg, Virginia.
• 1996, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given by the U.S. executive branch. In
• 1998, she was the first to receive the International Freedom Conductor Award given by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
• 1999,
  • she received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award given by the U.S. legislative branch, the medal bears the legend "Mother of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement"
  • she receives the Detroit-Windsor International Freedom Festival Freedom Award.
  • Time magazine named Parks one of the 20 most influential and iconic figures of the 20th century.
• 2000,
  • her home state awarded her the Alabama Academy of Honor,
  • she receives the first Governor's Medal of Honor for Extraordinary Courage.
  • She was awarded two dozen honorary doctorates from universities worldwide
  • She is made an honorary member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
  • the Rosa Parks Library and Museum on the campus of Troy University in Montgomery was dedicated to her.
• 2002,
  • scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Parks on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.
  • A portion of the Interstate 10 freeway in Los Angeles is named in her honor.
• 2003, Bus No. 2857 on which Parks was riding is restored and placed on display in The Henry Ford
• 2004, In the Los Angeles County MetroRail system, the Imperial Highway/Wilmington station, where the Blue Line connects with the Green Line, has been officially named the "Rosa Parks Station".
• 2005,
  • On October 30, 2005 President George W. Bush issued a proclamation ordering that all flags on U.S. public areas both within the country and abroad be flown at half-staff on the day of Parks' funeral.
  • Metro Transit in King County, Washington placed posters and stickers dedicating the first forward-facing seat of all its buses in Parks' memory shortly after her death,
  • the American Public Transportation Association declared December 1, 2005, the 50th anniversary of her arrest, to be a "National Transit Tribute to Rosa Parks Day".
  • On that anniversary, President George W. Bush signed Pub.L. 109-116, directing that a statue of Parks be placed in the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall. In signing the resolution directing the Joint Commission on the Library to do so, the President stated: By placing her statue in the heart of the nation's Capitol, we commemorate her work for a more perfect union, and we commit ourselves to continue to struggle for justice for every American.
  • Portion of Interstate 96 in Detroit, Michigan was renamed by the state legislature as the Rosa Parks Memorial Highway in December 2005.
• 2006, at Super Bowl XL, played at Detroit's Ford Field, long-time Detroit residents Coretta Scott King and Parks were remembered and honored by a moment of silence. The Super Bowl was dedicated to their memory.
• 2007, Nashville, Tennessee, renamed MetroCenter Boulevard (8th Avenue North) (US 41A and TN 12) in September 2007 as Rosa L. Parks Boulevard.
• 2009, On July 14, 2009, the Rosa Parks Transit Center opened in Detroit at the corner of Michigan and Cass Avenues.
• 2010, In Grand Rapids, Michigan, a plaza in the heart of the city is named Rosa Parks Circle.
• 2012, President Barack Obama visited the famous Rosa Parks bus at the Henry Ford Museum after an event in Dearborn, Michigan, April 18, 2012.