Bill Text: MI SR0076 | 2015-2016 | 98th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: A resolution to urge the United States government to place the portrait of Rosa Parks on the $10 bill.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-07-01 - Placed On Order Of Resolutions [SR0076 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2015-SR0076-Introduced.html
Senator Hood offered the following resolution:
Senate Resolution No. 76.
A resolution to urge the United States government to place the portrait of Rosa Parks on the $10 bill.
Whereas, The U.S. Secretary of the Treasury has indicated that he is accepting public input regarding which American woman will be honored by being placed upon the new $10 bill; and
Whereas, We must first recognize that millions of American women would qualify to be placed on the new $10 bill, but nonetheless, a selection must be made; and
Whereas, No woman from American history has surpassed the activism, dignity, and profound importance of Rosa Parks, and she is the ideal person to be honored by the government she did so much to improve; and
Whereas, Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, and also lived in Hampton, Virginia, and Detroit, Michigan. In Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1, 1955, she sat down on a city busy and refused to get up, and in doing so, stood up for the rights of all people, which made us better. Rosa Parks was charged with refusing to obey orders of the bus driver. The ordinance provided that any employee of the bus company “shall have the powers of a police officer of the city” to enforce the segregation code [Montgomery City Code, Chapter 6, Section 11]; and
Whereas, In 1955, it was not clear to Rosa Parks that her actions would bring about positive change, and she acted at great risk to herself and her community. Both Mrs. Parks and her husband would lose their jobs during the boycott that followed, and they moved to Detroit shortly thereafter. The story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott is often told without reference to the extreme hardship endured by its advocates. Rosa Parks’ actions are often told as a tale of one day of advocacy, but her actions on that day were not an isolated incident. They were the culmination of more than a decade of activism during which she served as secretary of the Montgomery NAACP and as the head of a youth program; and
Whereas, After enduring the hardship of the 381-day boycott, she became the mother of the Civil Rights Movement and served as an aide to Congressman John Conyers, Jr., from 1965 to 1988. Mrs. Parks lived out her life serving the residents of her adopted community in the same manner as she would walk with Presidents when they honored her. For almost 50 years, she was with us, among us, and always a guiding star ever shining above us; and
Whereas, Adding her portrait to the $10 bill would educate a new generation of Americans about the greater story behind her life and the Civil Rights Movement. It would serve as a reminder that she endured a lifetime of advocacy, both before and after December 1, 1955; and
Whereas, There is no better example of a person whose actions served not only as a reflection of herself, but as a reflection of what our society should become. As President Clinton said in 1999, “In so many ways, Rosa Parks brought America home to our founders’ dream”; and
Whereas, We ask that the President of the United States and Secretary of the Treasury honor the unsurpassed American life of Rosa Parks by placing her portrait upon the $10 bill; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate, That we urge that the United States government to place this honor upon Rosa Parks; and be it further
Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Secretary of the Treasury, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Michigan congressional delegation, and the leaders of the state legislatures of the United States.
