Johnnie Carr, 97; a Civil Rights 'Spark Plug'

Johnnie Carr, 97, who joined childhood friend Rosa Parks in the historic Montgomery bus boycott and kept a busy schedule of civil rights activism up to her final days, died Feb. 22 in Baptist Health Hospital in Montgomery, Ala. She had been hospitalized after a stroke Feb. 11.

Mrs. Carr succeeded the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as president of the Montgomery Improvement Association in 1967 and held the post until her death. It was the newly formed association that led the boycott of city buses in the Alabama capital in 1955 after Parks, a black seamstress, was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white on a crowded bus.

A year later, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down racial segregation on public transportation.

"Johnnie Carr is one of the three major icons of the Civil Rights Movement: Dr. King, Rosa Parks and Johnnie Carr," said Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center. "I think ultimately, when the final history books are written, she'll be one of the few people remembered for that terrific movement."

As the improvement association's president, Mrs. Carr helped lead several initiatives to improve race relations and conditions for blacks. She was involved in a lawsuit to desegregate Montgomery schools, with her son, Arlam Carr Jr., then 13, the named plaintiff.

"She hadn't been sick up until she had the stroke," her son said Saturday. "It was such a massive stroke that she never was able to recover from it. She was still very active -- going around and speaking -- but it was just one of those things."

She played a prominent role in 2005 on the 50th anniversary of Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat, speaking to thousands of schoolchildren who marched to the Capitol. "Look back, but march forward," Mrs. Carr urged them.

At a memorial service for Parks in Washington, her eulogy of Parks was "really the most dynamic" moment, recalled Julian Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"There were many people who spoke who were much better known . . . but she carried the day," said Bond, who helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Just days before her stroke, Mrs. Carr participated in King Day ceremonies in Montgomery and spoke after a parade. Admirers marveled at her energy and commitment into her 90s.

"She was always an encourager and not a divider," Mayor Bobby Bright told the Montgomery Advertiser. "She was just a loving person. She was truly the mother figure that we all so desperately needed in Montgomery during a very trying period of our history."

In a statement, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley said Mrs. Carr was a "remarkable woman and will be deeply missed." She was a true inspiration, he said, and "leaves behind a lasting legacy of pride, determination, and perseverance."