Senate resolution honors Rosa Parks's 100th birthday

Michigan Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D) and Carl Levin (D) announced Monday that they’ll introduce a Senate resolution honoring the 100th birthday of Rosa Parks.

"Rosa Parks proved that the simplest acts can be the most heroic," Stabenow said in a statement Monday. "By courageously sitting down to stand up for her basic human dignity, she changed our nation's history and made America a more just and moral place. As her 100th birthday approaches, all of us in Michigan should be proud that Rosa Parks chose to make our state her home."

The civil rights leader lived in Michigan for years, after moving from Alabama where she refused to give her seat up to a white passenger on a bus, which started the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

"Rosa Parks's quiet courage proved that one person's request for simple human dignity can change the world," Levin said. "The bus boycott she began was the beginning of an American revolution that elevated the status of African Americans nationwide. As the 100th anniversary of her birth approaches, it's fitting that the Senate commemorate her lasting legacy."

Park’s 100th birthday would have been Feb. 4, 2013. She died in 2005.

The resolution has more than 50 bipartisan co-sponsors and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) introduced a similar resolution in the House.

The resolution also says the U.S. Postal Service will issue a stamp in February 2013 to honor Parks and “her courage to act at a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement.”

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