LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Rosa Parks will be honored throughout February on Louisville's public buses.
Transit Authority of River City will save a seat on every bus in its fleet in remembrance of Parks and her contribution to the civil rights movement. According to a news release Tuesday, each seat will feature a sign reminding passengers of how Parks changed history in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955.
Parks, a Black seamstress, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus. The incident sparked a yearlong boycott of the buses and helped fuel the U.S. civil rights movement.
TARC will have #SaveaSeat signs with QR Codes directing passengers to Olmsted Parks Conservancy and efforts to restore the Chickasaw Park tennis courts. That park is believed to be the only park in the country created by the Olmsted Firm for the Black community during segregation, according to a news release.
"Public transit is intertwined with the history of the civil rights movement," TARC Executive Director Ozzy Gibson said in a news release. "I’m proud TARC continues to honor that legacy, and the legacy of Rosa Parks."
In celebration of Black History Month, TARC will also partner with Spalding University to offer 200 JCPS students fare-free travel to the university's Elmer Lucille Allen Conference. She was the first African American chemist to be hired at Brown-Forman in 1966. TARC will also feature videos of Allen, TARC's Alyce French-Johnson.
TARC will also share information about supporting local Black-owned businesses.
TARC Coverage:
- TARC route reductions, changes start Sunday in Louisville area
- TARC permanently cutting service to 11 Louisville-area bus routes later this month
- TARC route cuts leave elderly disabled woman struggling to get to doctor appointments
- TARC will implement route cuts across Louisville next month after year of feedback
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