Bush authorizes Rosa Parks statue

• Tweet

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush signed legislation Thursday authorizing a statue of Rosa Parks in the National Statuary Hall in Washington.

"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," Bush said during a ceremony at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

Parks ignited the spark that fused the civil rights fight when on Dec. 1, 1955, she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., bus and was arrested. A resulting year-long bus boycott was a major factor in passage of the Civil Rights Act.

Parks died Oct. 24 at age 92.

"By refusing to give in, Rosa Parks showed that one candle can light the darkness," Bush said. "By refusing to give in, Rosa Parks helped inspire a nationwide effort for equal justice under the law."