ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 16, 1996 TAG: 9609160108
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
President Clinton honored civil rights heroine Rosa Parks on Saturday for ``one modest act of defiance that changed the course of history.''
In an Oval Office ceremony, the president slipped the blue ribbon of the Presidential Medal of Freedom around the neck and shoulders of the elderly black woman whose refusal to relinquish her seat in a city bus to a white person led to the 1955 Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott, one of the opening dramas of the civil rights movement.
Weather problems from Hurricane Fran disrupted airline schedules and Parks was not able to attend last Monday's ceremonies in which 10 other distinguished Americans also were recognized.
Parks continues to work on human rights issues and founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in Detroit, which offers career training for teen-agers.
- Associated Press<
LENGTH: Short : 28 linesby CNB