A state commission Tuesday agreed on a design for a statue of Rosa Parks for the Alabama State Capitol’s steps, the first on the grounds of the Capitol to depict a Black woman.
The statue, designed by sculptor Julia Knight, based in Decatur, Georgia, will show Parks standing on a platform, facing those coming up the stairs to the Capitol. Parks will gaze upwards, symbolizing her courage and determination. It will be placed at the top of the steps.
Parks, a seamstress and longtime civil rights activist, boarded a segregated Montgomery bus on Dec. 1, 1955, and refused to give her seat to a white person. Parks’ arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and kicked off the modern Civil Rights Movement.
The working model shows the wind blowing behind Parks’ coat, which Knight said is meant to symbolize “freedom, blowing in the wind, flying up, not restricted.”
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