Equal Justice Initiative Unveils Statue of Rosa Parks

The Equal Justice Initiative has unveiled a statue of Rosa Parks at its Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Ala., on Wednesday, part of a broader effort to memorialize civil rights icons.

In the coming months, statues for Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis will also be erected at the museum, connected with the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, also known as the lynching memorial.




“We want to just honor these extraordinary people, who lived and worked in our community, and had such a profound impact on the issues that have so lifted our nation,” Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, said in an interview after the event.

That statue, roughly eight feet high, depicts Parks in a sitting position offset from the base from which she rises. She is locked in a pose of defiance that made her an iconic figure in the fight for civil rights. The statue adds to a space meant for people to reflect on their experiences after visiting the museum, which explores the history of slavery, segregation, and lynching.

Stevenson said he hopes the sculpture will inspire visitors to reflect on this nation’s history and to come to terms with both lynchings and race relations in the country.

“We think of this as a space where you can sit, and learn, and talk, and reflect, and that is why we wanted these statues here,” Stevenson said.

Parks was a longtime civil rights activist in Montgomery who refused to give her seat on a segregated bus to a white passenger on Dec. 1, 1955.  Parks’ arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, considered the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement.

Several people were on hand at the unveiling, including Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed.

Reconciliation

“We are talking to so many groups, influencers and leaders, about what they can do at home, what they have learned here in Montgomery,” he said. “And I think having this sculpture, along with all the other development, all the other projects the Equal Justice Initiative is doing is forcing all of us to reconcile our history and our present.”




The city of Montgomery in 2019 unveiled a statue of Parks in Court Square, where Parks caught the bus. State officials plan to install a 15-foot high statue of Parks on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol. The Alabama Women’s Tribute Statue Commission, charged with approving statues of Parks and disabilities advocate Helen Keller, approved a statue design in December expected to cost about $611,000.

A couple, John and Martha Robb, from New Hampshire were on a civil rights tour and happened to stop by the location just as the event commemorating Parks was about to end. The two met with Stevenson and Reed, thanking them and acknowledging the work they are doing.

“It is amazing,” John Robb said. “It is totally amazing. It puts her in a position where she was on the bus. She was an incredible woman, a lot of integrity, a lot of credibility, and I think she moved the civil rights movement forward immeasurably.”

–Ralph Chapoco, Alabama Reflector via Florida Phoenix