Henry Ford Museum honoring Rosa Parks' 100th birthday - New York News | NYC Breaking News

DEARBORN, Mich. (WJBK) -- The U.S. Postal Service has issued a special Rosa Parks stamp on what would have been the late civil rights icon's 100th birthday.

The Rosa Parks Forever Stamp went on sale Monday and its issue is one of several events scheduled throughout the day to honor Parks.

The Henry Ford museum in Dearborn is hosting a 12-hour celebration featuring speeches, music and presentations. Watch live coverage in the video player above.

Event-goers also are being given the opportunity to take a seat on the Rosa Parks bus, which is on permanent display inside the museum.

Parks was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus to a white man, an act that helped bring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to prominence.

Parks later moved to Detroit. She died in 2005.

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Online:
http://www.dayofcourage.org

National Day of Courage Speakers:
Henry Ford Museum

Julian Bond - 9:50 a.m.
The American social activist has been a leader in the civil rights, economic justice and peace movements since his college years. Before becoming a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960, Bond helped create the Atlanta University student civil rights organization, which directed nonviolent protests and won integration of Atlanta's movie theaters, lunch counters and parks. Bond served 20 years in the Georgia House and Senate, drafting more than 60 bills that became law. He was president of the Atlanta branch of the NAACP for 11 years and, in 1998, was elected chair of the NAACP national board, where he served 11 terms until stepping down in 2010. Named one of America's top 200 leaders by Time magazine, Bond has received Civil Liberties Union Bill of Rights awards in Massachusetts and Georgia and holds 25 honorary degrees. He has been a commentator on NBC's "Today" show and has written Viewpoint, a nationally syndicated newspaper column, and a collection of essays titled "A Time to Speak, A Time to Act."

Eleanor Clift - 1:00 p.m.
The political reporter, television pundit and author is currently a contributing editor for Newsweek magazine and The Daily Beast website. Her column, Capitol Letter, is posted each week on the Newsweek and MSNBC websites. She is a regular panelist on the nationally syndicated show "The McLaughlin Group." Clift is on the advisory council of the International Women's Media Foundation and the boards of the Center for Politics and Journalism and the National Hospice Foundation.

Douglas Brinkley - 2:35 p.m.
He is professor of history at Rice University, a fellow in history at James Baker Institute for Public Policy and an award-winning author. Brinkley is also a contributing editor for Vanity Fair, the Los Angeles Times Book Review and American Heritage as well as a frequent contributor to The New York Times and The New Yorker. In 2005, he authored the biography "Rosa Parks: A Life," which follows the civil rights icon from her childhood in Alabama through her epochal moment of courage to her final days. Brinkley completed his bachelor's degree at The Ohio State University and received his doctorate in U.S. diplomatic history from Georgetown University.

Danielle McGuire - 2:35 p.m.
She is the author of the award-winning book "At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape and Resistance - a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power." McGuire is an assistant professor in the History Department of Wayne State University and a distinguished lecturer for the Organization of American Historians. She has appeared on dozens of radio and television programs throughout the United States, Canada, England and South America. Her essays have appeared in the Journal of American History and on CNN.com, TheGrio.com, TheRoot.com and the Huffington Post.

Jeanne Theoharis - 2:35 p.m.
She is a professor of political science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She received her Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan and her bachelor's degree in Afro-American studies from Harvard University. She is the author of a highly anticipated new biography of Rosa Parks, "The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks," which details the remarkable span of Parks' political life across the 20th century. Departing from most treatments of Parks' life, which focus on Montgomery, nearly half of Theoharis' biography focuses on Parks' life and political activities in Detroit. Theoharis is also the author or co-author of six other books on the black freedom struggle and the contemporary politics of race in the United States.

Arlie Schardt - 5:00 p.m.
He is a longtime journalist and public interest activist who covered the southern civil rights movement during the 1960s for TIME magazine. During his career, Schardt has served as associate legislative director of the ACLU, executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund and founded Environmental Media Services where he served as president for 13 years. Schardt is currently chair of Friends of the Earth (FOE), a national environmental organization.

Aaron P. Dworkin - 7:10 p.m.
He is the founder and president of the Sphinx Organization, the leading national arts organization that focuses on youth development and diversity in classical music. A 2005 MacArthur Fellow and member of the Obama National Arts Policy Committee, Dworkin was President Obama's first appointee to the National Council on the Arts. Dworkin is an accomplished acoustic and electric violinist, author, social entrepreneur, artist-citizen and an avid education advocate, receiving national recognition for his vast accomplishments. He recently released his memoir, "Uncommon Rhythm: A Black, White, Jewish, Jehovah's Witness, Irish Catholic Adoptee's Journey to Leadership," through Aquarius Press.

Gareth Johnson - 7:10 p.m.
He is a violinist, composer and 2010 First Place Laureate of the Sphinx Competition. He currently is a distinguished lecturer and artist in residence (professor) at Albany State University in Albany, Ga. Johnson received his bachelor's and master's degrees in music performance at Lynn University Conservatory of Music in Boca Raton, Fla.

- The Associated Press contributed to this report