罗莎•帕克斯的雕像在美国国会山纪念美国杰出人物的雕像大厅揭幕。

2月27日，欧巴马总统和国会领导人齐聚国会山（Capitol）雕像大厅（Statuary Hall），为罗莎•帕克斯（Rosa Parks）的雕像揭幕。1955年，年轻的黑人女性罗莎•帕克斯在蒙哥马利市（Montgomery）的一辆公车上拒绝给一位白人乘客让座。

帕克斯对阿拉巴马州（Alabama）种族隔离法律的反抗是美国民权运动（Civil Rights Movement）的一个关键事件，引发了十年运动持续高涨的时期，导致1964年《民权法案》（Civil Rights Act）的通过。

欧巴马总统在雕像落成典礼上发表讲话说：“这个月是罗莎•帕克斯诞辰100周年。我们在此竖立她的雕像恰逢其时。但是为了更好地纪念她，我们必须将她的原则力量和源于信念的勇气发扬光大。”

在雕像大厅所有的雕像中，帕克斯是第一位受到尊崇的美国非洲裔女性。雕像大厅位于美国国会山，陈列了美国杰出人物的雕像。从1807年到1857年，雕像大厅是美国国会众议院（U.S. House of Representatives）的议事场所。

在罗莎•帕克斯雕像所在的位置上，原陈列着邦联军将领（Confederate General）之一，弗尼吉亚州（Virginia）罗伯特•李（Robert E. Lee）的雕像。罗伯特•李的雕像现陈列在国会山被称为地下后厅（Crypt）另一个场所。

A statue of Rosa Parks is the latest addition to the U.S. Capitol's collection of sculptures depicting prominent Americans.

On February 27, President Obama and congressional leaders gathered in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall to unveil a statue of Rosa Parks, a young black woman who in 1955 refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white man.

Parks' defiance of Alabama's segregation laws was a key event in America’s Civil Rights Movement and set off a decade of activism that led to passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“Rosa Parks would have turned 100 years old this month,” Obama said at the statue’s dedication ceremony. “We do well by placing a statue of her here. But we can do no greater honor to her memory than to carry forward the power of her principle and a courage born of conviction.”

Parks is the first African-American woman to be honored with a statue in Statuary Hall, a chamber in the U.S. Capitol that houses sculptures of prominent Americans. From 1807 until 1857, the chamber was the meeting place for the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Rosa Parks statue takes the spot formerly occupied by one of Confederate General Robert E. Lee of Virginia. That sculpture is now displayed in a separate area of the Capitol known as the Crypt.