Monumental crowd pays tribute to an icon

? With reverence and a deep sense of indebtedness, the nation’s capital last night began its simple but dignified farewell for Rosa Parks, the humble woman whose courageous act 50 years ago led to the breakdown of racial segregation in the United States. A massive crowd of people of all ages, colors and political beliefs pressed together, then lined up patiently at the U.S. Capitol to view her coffin and talk about the enormous changes she brought the nation – and them.

Parks, who died Oct. 24 at 92, made history even in death. She became the first woman, and only the 30th American, to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, a distinction that the many thousands who came to pay their respects seemed to feel was no more than she deserved. The nation’s farewell to Parks, which began with a vigil and then a memorial service in Montgomery, Ala., Sunday, will continue today with a 1 p.m. service at Metropolitan AME Church and end Wednesday with her funeral and burial in Detroit, her home.

People view the casket of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, who lies in honor inside the Capitol Rotunda. Parks, who inspired the U.S. civil rights movement by refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, is the first woman accorded such an honor.

What struck many about the event was how much it seemed to reflect the guiding principles of Parks’s long life – dignity and understatement. No elected officials, not even President Bush, spoke at a brief service at the Rotunda, and the casket – a plain, highly polished cherry-wood coffin with eight wooden handles – sat in the center of the Rotunda, with no carving, flag or flowers upon it.

Shortly before 7:30 p.m., the motorcade – a hearse, three Metro buses draped in black for the family and friends, motorcycles and squad cars – arrived at the Capitol, receiving a huge reaction of applause from the waiting crowd.

Onlookers had lined the road. The procession they saw was led by a 1957 vintage bus, a memory of the type of bus that Parks rode, of the type of bus that blacks in the District could ride but had to change seats for decades when they reached Virginia. The company that ran the buses at the time finally began hiring blacks as drivers in 1955.

At the Capitol, President Bush and first lady Laura Bush arrived in a separate motorcade. The stately quality of the event was striking for a woman who talked of growing up on her grandfather’s Alabama farm, worked as a seamstress and married a barber, and never seemed to seek a spotlight for herself.

President Bush, right, and first lady Laura Bush pay their respects as the casket of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks lies in honor at the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol Building Sunday in Washington. Parks is the first woman and second African-American to have this honor.

As the crowd waited quietly in ever-lengthening lines for the viewing, bundled up against the early night chill, some held signs that read, “Thank You, Rosa Parks.” Others spoke of “Miss Rosa” and her impact on their lives as if they had known the former Montgomery resident who decided one day in 1955 that she would rather go to jail than give up her bus seat to a white passenger. That act led to a Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public transportation was unconstitutional, and the civil rights movement began to flower.

“Miss Rosa means a great deal to me,” said Deric Colander, 41, of Chester, Va., who is retired military and arrived at the Capitol six hours before the public viewing of Parks’s coffin was to begin. “Miss Rosa set the stage for a whole lot of opportunities I’ve had. She set the tone for the civil rights movement, and it has meant a lot for this country.”

Alicia Myers, back right, with her niece Shante Tyler, front left, and son Isaiah Myers, front right, view the coffin containing the remains of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, who lies in honor inside the Capitol Rotunda Sunday in Washington.

By the time the motorcade filled with dignitaries arrived from Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, the crowd waiting in the darkness outside the Capitol had grown to enormous proportions. It filled two giant fields. Although some families left after viewing the motorcade’s arrival, worried about school and work the next day, many vowed they were ready to spend most of the cool night waiting outdoors.

Many had waited for five hours and still anticipated hours of waiting before they got to the Rotunda. At 10:30 p.m., the line snaked from one side of the mall to the other, doubled up and then went almost to the doors of Union Station.

Officials said they would keep the Capitol opened as long as it took. “It’s almost as much as Reagan,” said U.S. Park Police spokesman Bill Line, referring to the massive crowds at the public viewing of the former president last year.