Press Release - Leadership Conference on Civil Rights & Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund
By Sitting Down, Rosa Parks Gave the Country the Courage to Stand Up
Statement of Wade Henderson, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
For Immediate Release
Contact: Scott Westbrook Simpson, 202.466.2061, simpson@civilrights.org
October 25, 2005
"Last night, our country lost a true hero. Rosa Parks was not merely an American icon, but a testament to the power that one person has to effect change. Her quiet act of defiance became a loud denunciation of the evils of segregation and helped spark the modern civil rights movement. It's been said, but it is well worth repeating, that by sitting down, Rosa Parks gave the country the courage to stand up.
Our hearts and sympathies are with her family and our country is in her debt."
