MCDOT Posts Placards on Ride On Buses to Commemorate Rosa Parks Day in Montgomery County

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich and Montgomery County Council President Sidney Katz proclaimed Tuesday, December 1, as Rosa Parks Day in the County to recognize this American hero’s refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus on Thursday, December 1, 1955. Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) Director Chris Conklin joined Elrich, Katz and others at a County Council presentation in recognizing Parks’ moral clarity in the face of bigotry and oppression that inspired millions to stand up for fundamental fairness. 

Click the following link to watch the proclamation starting at 48:45 in the video youtube.com/watch?v=tAWa-ZzyOMs&feature=youtu.be.

To honor Parks, MCDOT placed placards about Parks in all its transit vehicles and promoted the day through social media and ongoing policy and program efforts. The placards will remain in place and visible to today’s bus passengers through December.

“MCDOT is inspired by Parks’ courage to continue to see and confront the influence of racism, both overt and institutional, that is still evident today,” said Conklin. “There is a strong correlation between accessibility and race. Recognizing this connection, MCDOT has strengthened its commitment to those communities disadvantaged by racism by improving public transportation and providing safe environments for walking and bicycling to ensure access to education and employment opportunities.”

“The courageous act of Rosa Parks refusing to move to the back of the bus helped galvanize the Civil Rights movement and triggered the year-long Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott,” said County Executive Marc Elrich. “Her bold heroism resulted in an arrest, jail time, loss of her job, and threats of violence against her. Yet she resisted and shaped American history and inspired change.”

Parks' arrest sparked the December 5th boycott of city buses by 42,000 African American, which helped changed the course of America. Called the Montgomery Bus Boycott, it lasted 381 days ending on December 21, 1956 with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on November 13, 1956 that segregation on city buses was unconstitutional.

“Reading Rosa Parks’ own words about what happened that day was inspiring,” said Katz. “She said all I was doing was trying to get home after a day’s work. Our mistreatment was just not right and I was just tired of it. Someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind to be the one. Each person must live their life as a model for others. All of us are grateful to Rosa Parks for taking that step.”

“What Rosa Parks signifies is the power of one when confronting a status quo that is simply wrong,” said Montgomery County’s Office of Human Rights Director James L. Stowe. “She inspired us to stand up for others. As the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King said a man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right, a man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is justice and a man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is true. Rosa Parks when presented with the moment, stood up steadfast and demonstrated the most powerful force on earth – the power of one.”

All County residents are encouraged to remember Parks' tireless commitment to a better world and her fearless will to battle injustice at tremendous risk to herself for the sake of the greater.

For department updates, follow @MCDOTNow on Twitter, visit the department website at montgomerycountymd.gov/mcdot, subscribe to MCDOT news releases or subscribe to MCDOT’s ‘Go Montgomery!’ newsletter. 

For transportation updates related to COVID-19 health crisis, visit MCDOT’s transportation resource page for COVID-19.

Release ID: 20-220
Media Contact: Hannah Henn 240-777-8389