Montgomery observes Rosa Parks' 100th birthday

photo Rosa Parks is fingerprinted Feb. 22, 1956, by police Lt. D.H. Lackey in Montgomery, Ala., two months after refusing to give up her seat on a bus for a white passenger on Dec. 1, 1955.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Montgomery is observing the 100th anniversary of the birth of civil rights icon Rosa Parks with a public art project downtown.

A 96-foot by 40-foot wall is covered in chalkboard paint and has space for people to complete the sentence "Before I die I want to..."

Montgomery's director of development, Chad Emerson, told the Montgomery Advertiser that citizens came up with the idea and volunteers did the work.

Monday is the 100th anniversary of Parks' birth. The Rosa Parks Museum at Troy University Montgomery plans a program Monday night with art, poetry and the unveiling of the new Parks commemorative stamp by the U.S. Postal Service.

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