Happy Birthday, Rosa Parks!

Rosa Parks

The “mother of the civil rights movement” would have been 100 years old on February 4, 2013. Her refusal to sit in the back of a Montgomery, Alabama, bus on December 1, 1955, ignited a movement that ultimately challenged racial segregation and inspired others to similar actions.

In her honor, the U.S. Postal Service released a commemorative stamp with her image as part of a series remembering the people and events that promoted social justice in the United States.

President Obama proclaimed February 4 as a day of community service and educational programs to honor Rosa Parks’ enduring legacy. “A lifelong champion of civil rights, she continued to give voice to the poor and the marginalized among us until her passing on October 24, 2005,” the president said.

Obama called on Americans to remember that “although the principle of equality has always been self-evident, it has never been self-executing. It has taken acts of courage from generations of fearless and hopeful Americans to make our country more just.”