STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

Rosa Parks Statue Unveiled In Montgomery, Alabama, On 64th Anniversary Of Not Giving Up Her Seat

The statue is located in downtown Montgomery, where the civil rights pioneer got on the bus in 1955.

A long-overdue memorial in Alabama for Rosa Parks took place six decades after the civil rights pioneer bravely refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man.

On Sunday (Dec. 1), at the Court Street Fountain in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, approximately 30 feet from where Parks got on that bus 64 years before, in 1955, a statue of her was unveiled, the Associated Press reports.   

RELATED: Celebrating Vanilla Beane, ‘D.C.’s Hat Lady,’ The Milliner Who Paved The Way For Black Female Entrepreneurs

Among nearly 400 attendees was Fred Gray, the attorney who defended Parks, and many other civil rights heroes, USA Today reports.

Parks’ 1955 arrest was a key moment in the civil rights movement, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which challenged segregation on public buses. 

In addition to Parks’ statue, the city of Alabama also presented two historic markers for the plaintiffs of Browder v. Gayle, which was the landmark case that ruled segregation on Montgomery buses was unconstitutional, USA Today reports. 

RELATED: Elizabeth Warren Delivers Civil Rights Speech At Clark Atlanta University

Clydetta Fulmer was the artist commissioned for the Parks memorial, which, along with the other two markers, was a partnership between the city of Montgomery, Montgomery County, the Alabama Department of Tourism and the Montgomery Area Business Committee for the Arts, USA Today reports. 

RELATED: Black Woman Files Lawsuit Against Waffle House For Violating Her Civil Rights

"To stand here today as Montgomery’s mayor where Mrs. Rosa Parks stood defiant against systemic injustice infecting our community and our country speaks to the magnitude of this moment and the progress achieved in our city,” Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said in a statement Sunday, ABC News reports. "This progress, coupled with the dawn of a new era of reconciliation and revitalization, underscores Montgomery’s status as the Birthplace of Civil Rights and a light unto the world."

Latest News

Subscribe for BET Updates

Provide your email address to receive our newsletter.


By clicking Subscribe, you confirm that you have read and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive marketing communications, updates, special offers (including partner offers) and other information from BET and the Paramount family of companies. You understand that you can unsubscribe at any time.