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THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS CELEBRATES THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ROSA PARKS

  October 25, 2005

On Monday, October 24, 2005, Rosa Parks, a pioneer of the civil rights movement in the United States, died at the age of 92. Ms. Parks made history in the United States when on December 1, 1955, she refused to give up her seat for a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus. Her courage that day sparked a powerful national movement that ended racial segregation in the United States.

Her actions that day and her involvement with the national civil rights movement afterwards brought hope to millions around the United States and internationally about the power of an individual to provoke change in the face of human rights violations.

Today the IACHR celebrates the bravery and activism of Ms. Parks and the work of individuals around the Americas to challenge human rights violations and promote equality and non-discrimination in their societies.

Washington, D.C., October 25, 2005

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