Post Office Honors Rosa Parks on 100th Birthday

The Detroit District of the United States Postal Service will honor civil rights activist Rosa Park with two ceremonies on Monday.

Sales of the first Rosa Parks Forever stamps will kick off at 7:30 a.m. Feb. 4, on what would have been the icon's 100th birthday, at the Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit. At 10:45 a.m., the Postal Service will have an event at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.

"It's the second stamp the Post Office has launched recognizing the civil rights movement," said Royal Oak letter carrier John Dick. "The first was the Emancipation Proclamation Forever Stamp."

In August, a third stamp will recognize the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, Dick said.

In 1955, Parks was arrested and convicted of violating segregation laws in Montgomery, AL when she quietly refused to give up her seat on a city bus. Her actions were a catalyst that began a 381 day boycott and changed the course of the civil rights movement, according to the Rosa & Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development.  

In 1957, Parks moved to Detroit with her husband. She died on Oct. 24, 2005 at the age of 92 in Detroit. The Rosa Parks bus is on permanent display at the Henry Ford Museum.

Sales of the Rosa Parks Forever stamps go on sale nationwide today. The Royal Oak Post Office is open from 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. Monday.