Statue of Rosa Parks unveiled

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A new statue of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks was dedicated in Alabama’s capital city on Sunday, the 64th anniversary of her historic refusal to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man.

Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey pulled back a cloth to unveil the statue before a crowd of about 400 spectators.

The ceremony coincided with the anniversary of Parks’ Dec. 1, 1955, arrest that sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal part of the civil rights movement.

“This depiction will inspire future generations to make the pilgrimage to our city, to push toward the path of righteousness, strength, courage and equality,” Reed, who recently became the first African American mayor of Montgomery, said at the ceremony, according to al.com.

Four granite markers near the statue honor plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the court case that determined segregation on Montgomery buses was unconstitutional. One of the plaintiffs, Mary Louise

Smith, took part in the ceremony Sunday.

Parks was 92 when she died in 2005.

MICKEY WELSH / MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER TWO ICONS: Mary Louise Smith, a plaintiff in the Browder vs. Gayle case that desegregated buses in Montgomery, Ala., stands beside the Rosa Parks statue after its unveiling event in downtown Montgomery on Sunday, which was the anniversary of Parks’ arrest for not giving up her seat on a city bus.