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Congressional Gold Medal.com |
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Congressional Gold Medal Recipient
Rosa Parks PRESIDENT CLINTON HONORS ROSA PARKS AT CONGRESSIONAL
GOLD MEDAL CEREMONY
U.S. Capitol Rotunda
June 15, 1999 Today, President Clinton will honor civil rights luminary Rosa Parks at the
Congressional Gold Medal Award Ceremony. On May 4, 1999, the President signed into law, S. 531, a bill to authorize the Medal to Mrs. Parks. The bill, which was sponsored by Senator Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.) in the Senate and Representative Julia Carson (D-Ind.) in the House, passed overwhelmingly in both Houses with wide, bipartisan support. Rosa Parks is honored as the "First Lady of civil rights" and the "Mother of the Freedom Movement", and her quiet dignity ignited one of the most significant social movements in the history of the United States. Mrs. Parks was arrested on December 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, and her stand for equal rights became legendary. News of Mrs. Parks' arrest resulted in 42,000
African Americans boycotting Montgomery buses for 381 days, beginning on December 5, 1955, until the bus segregation laws were changed on December 21, 1956. Mrs. Parks is the recipient of many awards and accolades for her efforts on behalf of racial harmony including: in 1996, the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation's highest civilian honor; the Springarn Award, the NAACP's highest honor for civil rights contributions; and the first International Freedom Conductor Award from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Mrs. Parks was the first woman to join the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP and was an active volunteer for the Montgomery Voters League. In 1987, she co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development in Detroit, Mich., where she currently resides. The
Congressional Gold Medal of Honor is the highest honor that the United States Government can bestow on an individual. The Medal was first awarded to
George Washington. His medal, awarded by the Act of March 25, 1776, was the first of its kind to be bestowed. During the Clinton administration eight people have received this award:
Rabbi Menachem Schneerson in 1994,
Rev. Billy and Ruth Graham in 1996,
Frank Sinatra in 1997,
Mother Teresa of Calcutta in 1997, Bartholomew I in 1997,
President Nelson Mandela in 1998, and this year
Mrs. Rosa Parks. The audience of approximately 650 people will include the following Administration officials: Secretary of Education Richard Riley; Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater; Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman; Secretary of Veterans' Affairs Togo West, Jr.; Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder; Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Bill Lann Lee; and Small Business Administration Administrator Aida Alvarez. In addition to those participating in the program, approximately 140 members of Congress will attend including the Michigan delegation, members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Several elected officials, including Mayor Dennis Archer (Detroit); Mayor Clarence Anthony (South Bay, Fla.), President, NLC; Mayor Jesse Norward, President, National Conference of Black Mayors, and County Executive Wayne Curry (Prince George's County, MD), will also attend. Many members of the Civil Rights community will attend the ceremony including: Members of the
Little Rock Nine -- Minnie Jean Brown Trickey and Jefferson Thomas, along with his wife, Mary Harper Thomas and his granddaughter, Amber Montgomery;
Dorothy Height, Chairmwoman, National Council of Negro Women;
Marian Wright Edelman, President, Children's Defense Fund;
General Colin Powell, Chairman, America's Promise: Alliance for Youth; Julian Bond, Chairman, NAACP; Myrlie Evers-Williams, former Chairwoman, NAACP; Elaine R. Jones, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; C. Delores Tucker, National Political Caucus of Black Women;
Dick Gregory, Civil Rights Activist; and
Andrew Young (former US Ambassador to the UN and former mayor of Atlanta).
Program Prelude: Howard University Choir. Call to Order: Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Presentation of Colors: Capitol Police Ceremonial Unit. The National Anthem is played. Invocation: Dr. James David Ford, Chaplain of the House. The Colors are retired. Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.D.) reads the resolution. Opera Singer Jessye Norman performs "
Lift Every Voice" with the Howard University Choir.
Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) gives welcome and introduction. Rep. Julia Carson (D-Ind.) gives remarks on the Resolution. Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.) makes remarks. Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) makes remarks. Sen. Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.) makes remarks. Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) makes remarks. Speaker Hastert introduces President Clinton. President Clinton makes remarks. Presentation of the Resolution: President Clinton, Rep. Julia Carson (D-Ind.), Senator. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.). An artistic rendering of the medal is unveiled (the actual medal is not ready) by local Washington D.C. students.
Mrs. Rosa Parks makes remarks.
Rev. Jesse Jackson offers a prayer.
Benediction: Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie, Chaplain of the Senate. Rosa Parks Honored by Congress, Receives Gold Medal
Story by ECA Magazine Staff
Photos by Benjamin Rogers, Jr.
Washington, DC: Rosa Parks know to many as the mother of civil rights, was honored with the
Congressional Gold Medal today, the highest civilian award given by Congress. Mrs. Parks, 86, was lauded by the House and Senate leadership and
President Clinton for an act of defiance more than four decades ago. On December 1,1955, the seamstress, tried after day's work in Montgomery, Alabama refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus and was arrested for her defiance. Her arrest set off a lengthy bus boycott by thousands of blacks led by the
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., then a local minister. The boycott lasted about a year until the Supreme Court declared Montgomery's bus segregation law unconstitutional. "She is the mother of the civil rights movement," said Rep. Julia Carson, D-Ind., who pushed for the legislation granting the
Congressional Gold Medal to Mrs. Parks, who now lives in Detroit. " It is a celebration of the life of
Rosa Parks, who receiving the honor while she can still see it," Carson said of Mrs. Parks, who appeared frail and had to be helped to her feet from her wheelchair, sometimes steadying herself on the arm of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. " I thank God that when your time came, you were not afraid," House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., said at the Capitol Rotunda ceremony. " You had courage, and you sat down for all of America and all of
America's freedom." Congressional lawmakers gave Mrs. Parks an artist drawing of the medal, which is not yet finished. " I thank you," she said in a low, halting voice, adding that she accepted the award for the free people and for civil rights.
The gratitude went both ways. "I thank you for what you have done, "Clinton told Mrs. Parks. " She sat, anchored to that seat, as Dr. King said, by the accumulated indignities of days gone by and the countless aspirations of generations yet unborn," the president said. " Rosa Parks said, I didn't get on the bus to get arrested; I got on the bus to get home." The president said he was only 9 when Mrs. Parks refused to stand up. He and his friend "couldn't figure out anything we could do since we couldn't even vote. So we began to sit on the back of the bus when we got on" Mrs. Parks actions cost her the seamstress job and promoted harassment and threats to her family. So she moved to Detroit in 1957. She joined the staff of Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., in 1965 and worked there until retiring until 1988. In 1987, Mrs. Parks co-founded a nonprofit group, the Rosa and Raymond Institute for Self-Development, to help young people in Detroit. A guest at Clinton's State of the Union address in January, Mrs. Parks has received numerous awards, including the
Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Senate without dissent approved the legislation awarding her the
Congressional Gold Medal April 19. The house voted 424-1 for it the next day. The only "no" vote was cast by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who said he opposed spending government money on such awards. Lawmakers initially used the
Congressional Gold Medal to honor military leaders but began using it during the 20th century to recognize excellence in a range of fields. More than 320 medals have been awarded. The first was given to
George Washington in1776 for "wise and spirited conduct" during the
Revolutionary War. Recent honorees include
Frank Sinatra,
Mother Teresa and
South African President Nelson Mandela.
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