More than 50 people filled the Wilhelmina Johnson Center Thursday night to celebrate the birthday of the renowned civil rights activist Rosa Parks with poetry, songs, presentations and dance.
In 1955, Parks, who would have turned 97 Thursday, refused to give up her bus seat to a white person in Montgomery, Ala.
Her actions that day led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
The Rev. Milford Lewis Griner, chairman and founder of the Rosa Parks Quiet Courage Committee that organized the event, said Parks’ actions were a crucial component of the civil rights movement.
“Through her simple act of refusing to move from a bus seat, she ignited flames of justice that could not be put out,” Griner said. “She gave folks in Montgomery and all over the South hope and encouragement that one person really can make a difference.”
Griner emphasized the program had a three-fold purpose: to remember the day Parks was born, to celebrate the life she lived and to focus on educating others about who she was and what she believed.
A main focus of the event was on educating youth about an event that happened more than a half century ago but is still relevant today, Griner said.
He said Parks’ actions continue to inspire him to stand up for his beliefs every day.
“This means to me that I don’t have to be quiet or stand back in the face of apparent racism,” Griner said. “I have the freedom to stand up against inequality because I am a citizen of America.”
