The city of Gainesville remembered Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin during its annual Black History Month event that celebrates civil rights leaders from the 1950s and 1960s.
The event happened at the Rosa B. Parks Transfer Station and is coordinated by the Rosa Parks Quiet Courage Committee and RTS.
Bonnie Burgess, president of the committee, said the committee thought it would be right to honor Colvin alongside Parks this year. Burgess said Colvin was the spark while Parks was the torch that pushed the Civil Rights Movement into motion with their refusal to give up bus seats.
“As we prepare to leave this space today, let us simply not just remember their names, but let us carry their spirit,” Burgess said. “Let us leave ready to be the spark and the torch in our own communities.”
Colvin was 15 years old when she refused to give up her bus seat during segregation in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. She was arrested, and nine months later, Parks followed in her footsteps and refused to give up her seat in the more well-known symbol of the Civil Rights Movement.
Gainesville’s event included remarks by Mayor Harvey Ward, Alachua County Sheriff Chad Scott, High Springs Police Chief Antoine Sheppard and others.
RTS employee Tammy McCants sang “Battle Hymn of the Republic” while Hartley Leacock Jr. played “What a Wonderful World” on trumpet.
Ward said the story of Colvin and Parks can’t be forgotten. The community needs to remember, he said, why the event is held each year at a bus station.
He pointed to a former transit hub, Depot Park, across the road. He said that historic building and the people who built it saw the injustices happening, witnessed America changing, and watched as the city named the bus station after Parks.
“I would encourage everyone, not just today but always when you get a chance, bring your children, bring your grandchildren here and tell this story,” Ward said. “Tell the story so that we don’t forget the story.”
Scott said what Parks and Colvin did galvanized people and that he’s always honored to remember them.
“I appreciate what they did because I do know for a fact if it wasn’t for what they did, I wouldn’t be right here right now,” Scott said.
Sheppard said Parks’ legacy is to not just remember but act, treating each member of the community with respect and justice.
Burgess ended the event pressing on the same themes.
“Their legacy is of one courage; their legacy is of one resistance,” Burgess said. “The legacy of what I like to call stubborn justice. Now it’s our turn. Let us take the same fire and the same determination and apply to the issues that we face today.”