Rosa Parks Day: Metro honors civil rights figure with special Metrobus, seats

Brian Farrell
·1 min read
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WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — December 1 is designated as Rosa Parks Day, a day to remember a woman who, through a simple, and peaceful act of disobedience, cemented herself as a figure in the civil rights movement in the United States.

It was on Dec. 1, 1955 that Parks disregarded an Alabama law that required Black passengers to give up seats to White passengers when a bus was full. The law also mandated that Black passengers sit at the back of the bus.

Police arrested Parks on that date, and the arrest led to a 381-day boycott of the bus system in Montgomery, Ala. The U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation on public transportation in 1956.

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To honor Parks, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) had its Rosa Parks Metrobus at Metro’s Fort Totten Station on Friday.

The Rosa Parks Metrobus honors civil rights figure Rosa Parks. (Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority)
The Rosa Parks Metrobus honors civil rights figure Rosa Parks. (Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority)

WMATA debuted the bus in 2005, and in 2022, it began a tradition of reserving a seat on every Metrobus in its fleet on Dec. 1 to pay tribute to Parks.

In 2022, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) began reserving a seat on all its Metrobuses on Dec. 1 to honor civil rights figure Rosa Parks. (Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority)
In 2022, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) began reserving a seat on all its Metrobuses on Dec. 1 to honor civil rights figure Rosa Parks. (Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority)

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