MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. Air Force and Montgomery leaders honored Rosa Parks with a memorialization ceremony on Maxwell Air Force Base, Dec. 1, the 65th anniversary of Parksâ arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus.
Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett; Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed; Col. Eries Mentzer, 42nd Air Base Wing commander; Bryan Stevenson, Equal Justice Initiative founder and director; and several other dignitaries were on hand for the unveiling of the Rosa Parks sculpture, created by Ian Mangum, a 42nd Force Support Squadron team member.
âSixty-five years ago today, a woman about my age refused to give up her seat on a city bus in protest of segregated transportation in Montgomery. That woman was Mrs. Rosa L. Parks,â Mentzer said. âShe was not tired, she was tired of giving in. Her moral courage in that moment sparked a movement that changed our nation for the better.â