MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University will celebrate the life and legacy of Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks and the 60th anniversary of her refusal to give up her bus seat, launching the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

The University’s Office of Multicultural Student Success is sponsoring a program at noon Tuesday, Dec. 1, in the Student Engagement Center at the J.W. Jones Student Union. The event will include a short presentation involving student leaders portraying messages of equity. The presentation will be followed by soup and a social.

“The day Rosa Parks stood up for what she believed changed the life of her generation and the generations after her,” Edward Gibson, Northwest’s coordinator of multicultural student success, said. “It is important that people notice where we have come from in order for us to get to where we need to be.”

The bus Parks was riding on Dec. 1, 1955, is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. To read more about her action and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, click here.

The Northwest event is free and open to the public.