Rosa Parks: Fight Not Over -- Activist Here To Mark Historic Bus Ride Across Racial Divide

The Montgomery, Ala., seamstress who stepped into history by refusing to give up a seat on a public bus proudly stepped out of a big white limousine yesterday at Garfield Community Center to meet with admirers who consider her a legend for her deed.

But Rosa Parks, who has spent half her 83 years being the "mother" of the civil-rights movement, isn't ready to claim any victories for herself or for those who shared in her struggle for racial equality.

"I know we have made some progress over the years, but I know we also have to continue," Parks said yesterday at the Four Seasons Olympic Hotel.

"We can't be too satisfied, because we'll become complacent."

That's why Parks, now a Detroit resident, and her Parks Legacy Team, an entourage including historical storytellers and educators, decided to commemorate that fateful day on Dec. 1, 1955.

Seattle is one stop on their 40-city tour marking the 40th anniversary of Parks' refusal to relinquish her bus seat to a white man.

Her arrest for violating Alabama's segregation laws sparked a successful black boycott of Montgomery buses led by the young Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The boycott lasted 381 days - so will the tour.

At 7 tonight, members of the Parks Legacy Team will present "A Celebration of Quiet Strength," a theatrical tribute to Parks, at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre.

Parks and the team are conducting diversity workshops at Bellevue High School today and at Cleveland High School in Seattle tomorrow.

On Saturday, Parks will take part in Seattle's Underground Railroad, an annual re-enactment of the migration of runaway slaves, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Garfield Community Center, 2323 E. Cherry St., Seattle.

Children have become the focus of Parks' recent civic activism. A youth-development institute she founded with Elaine Eason Steele in Detroit provides leadership training and help with career planning.

And about 150 youths will participate in the institute's sixth-annual "Pathways to Freedom" tour this summer, which includes visits to places that were important to the migration of runaway slaves on the so-called Underground Railroad. Lenny Jackson, a 14-year-old Washington Middle School student, will represent Seattle on the tour.

Parks says it's time for the nation's youth to carry on the struggle for African-American social and economic progress by developing self-respect, educating themselves and nurturing their spirits. Religious faith was key to the civil-rights movement King led, and it's just as important today, she said.

Though times have changed, Parks still uses the term "freedom" when discussing the ongoing mission of blacks in America.

"There is still racism among other people who haven't quite made up their minds that we're all human beings and we should be treated equally," she said.

For information, call the community center at 684-4877.