Senate Backs Measure to Honor Rosa Parks

Civil Rights Icon Would Lie in Honor in Capitol

The Senate voted on Thursday to honor the late civil rights icon Rosa Parks in the Capitol Rotunda. The House is set to take up the measure Friday and would make her the first woman to lie in honor, a tribute usually reserved for presidents, and the House of Representatives is set to approve the tribute on Friday.

Parks, a black woman who helped spark the U.S. civil rights movement when she refused to give her seat on an Alabama bus to a white man 50 years ago, died on Monday at the age of 92.

"The movement that Rosa Parks helped launch changed not only our country, but the entire world, as her actions gave hope to every individual fighting for civil and human rights. We now can honor her in a way deserving of her contributions and legacy," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.

According to the Architect of the Capitol, the Capitol Rotunda has been used for this honor only 28 times since 1852. Most recently, in 2004, the remains of President Ronald Reagan lay in state.

Other Americans so honored include Presidents Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson; Pierre L'Enfant, who planned the city of Washington, World War II Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the remains of several unknown soldiers.

On December 1, 1955, Parks, a 42-year-old seamstress living in the racially segregated south, boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her refusal to give up her seat led to a boycott of the city's bus system by black residents. The boycott was led by the Rev. Martin Luther King