A resolution expressing the Metropolitan Council's support for state legislation renaming a portion of Metrocenter Boulevard and 8th Avenue North as "Rosa L. Parks Boulevard".

WHEREAS, as a result of her arrest for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery Alabama bus in 1955, Rosa Parks' brave act of defiance gave rise to the modern civil rights movement; and

WHEREAS, public attention about Mrs. Parks' cause increased after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregated public transportation is unconstitutional, which led to the abolishment of many segregationist laws; and

WHEREAS, throughout her life, Mrs. Parks fought tirelessly for the civil rights of minorities in this country, and after her husband's death in 1977, Mrs. Parks founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development; and

WHEREAS, after her death in 2005 at the age of 92, Rosa Parks' casket was placed in the rotunda of the United States Capitol, so that the nation could pay its respects to the
acknowledged Mother of the Modern Civil Rights Movement; and

WHEREAS, as a means to honor the vital contribution Rosa Parks made to the Civil Rights movement in the United States and Tennessee, Senator Thelma M. Harper and Representative Mary Pruitt have introduced legislation in the Tennessee General Assembly to name a four-mile portion of U.S. Highway 41-A from the south end of the Martin Luther King Bridge to the Broadway Intersection as "Rosa L. Parks Boulevard"; and

WHEREAS, several facilities named in honor of prominent African American Nashvillians would be located on or near the proposed Rosa L. Parks Boulevard, including the Ted Rhodes Golf Course, the Charles E. Davis Foundation Learning Center, and the Z. Alexander Looby Center, Theatre, and Library; and

WHEREAS, the new Museum of African American Music, Art, and Culture would be located at the intersection of the proposed Rosa L. Parks Boulevard and Jefferson Street; and

WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Council desires to express its support for this state legislation that would create a Rosa L. Parks Boulevard in Nashville, Tennessee.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:

Section 1. That the Metropolitan County Council hereby goes on record as supporting SB0004 / HB0003 renaming a portion of Metrocenter Boulevard and 8th Avenue North as "Rosa L. Parks Boulevard".

Section 2. The Metropolitan Clerk is directed to send a copy of this Resolution to each member of the Davidson County Delegation to the Tennessee General Assembly.

Section 3. That this Resolution shall take effect from and after its adoption, the welfare of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County requiring it.

Sponsored by: Ludye Wallace, David Briley, Brenda Gilmore