IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 273 
Recognizing the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 25, 2005 
Mr. ROGERS of Alabama (for himself, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, 
Mr. BONNER, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. EVERETT, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. SCOTT 
of Georgia, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. WEXLER, 
Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. COOPER, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. FITZPATRICK 
of Pennsylvania, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, 
Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi, Ms. SOLIS, Ms. NORTON, Mrs. MALONEY, 
Mr. BURGESS, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. NADLER, Mr. MCNULTY, 
Ms. WATSON, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, 
Mr. PORTER, Mr. HOLT, Mr. SNYDER, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. ROTHMAN, 
Mr. SERRANO, Mr. SCHWARZ of Michigan, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of 
California, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mrs. MCCARTHY, Mr. UPTON, Mr. 
ROSS, Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, 
Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. EMAN-
UEL, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. ROHR-
ABACHER, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. 
HONDA, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. WOLF, and Mr. SCOTT of Virginia) submitted 
the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Government Reform 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Recognizing the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery bus 
boycott. 
Whereas on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, an African 
American seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, was ar-
rested for refusing to obey a busdriver’s order to give up
•HCON 273 IH 
her seat on a city bus for a White passenger boarding the 
bus, as required by city ordinance; 
Whereas outrage over the arrest of Rosa Parks initiated a 
meeting that weekend between the Reverend Ralph Aber-
nathy, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Jo Ann 
Robinson, who was the head of the Women’s Political 
Council, and E.D. Nixon, who was the Montgomery offi-
cial for the National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People, also known as the NAACP; 
Whereas this meeting resulted in the announcement of a 
large-scale boycott against Montgomery city buslines; 
Whereas ministers voiced the communal outrage over Rosa 
Parks’s arrest during Sunday services, unifying the Afri-
can American community in Montgomery as the min-
isters conveyed the message of the boycott; 
Whereas members of the community continued to spread the 
news of the boycott by disseminating leaflets encouraging 
participation in the boycott; 
Whereas through nonviolent means and the support of min-
isters and African American and White citizens alike, the 
Montgomery bus boycott and the beginning of the civil 
rights movement gained national attention; 
Whereas Rosa Parks became and remains an icon of pride 
and dignity, establishing a standard that has continued 
through the civil rights movement; 
Whereas Martin Luther King, Jr., became the president of 
the Montgomery Improvement Association, also known as 
the MIA, and helped organize the boycott with other civil 
rights leaders, such as Ralph Abernathy; and 
Whereas the Montgomery bus boycott ended after the United 
States Supreme Court, on November 13, 1956, upheld a
•HCON 273 IH 
Federal district court ruling declaring segregation on 
buses unconstitutional: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That Congress— 
(1) recognizes and honors the 50th anniversary 
of the Montgomery bus boycott; and 
(2) recognizes the historical significance of the 
Montgomery bus boycott to the United States. 
Æ