CityLink Honoring Rosa Parks on Feb. 4 & Celebrating Black History Month with Bus Signage

CityLink is continuing its tradition of honoring Civil Rights pioneer Rosa Parks on February 4, 2023 by reserving a seat in her honor on each fixed route bus, along with reserving a seat on bus 2238 for the entire month of February in conjunction with Black History Month. The classic 1975 CityLink bus that is used during the annual Stuff-A-Bus food drive also features a permanent seat that is reserved in honor of Parks and it will also feature exterior signage honoring Rosa Parks.

Parks famously refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a segregated transit bus in Montgomery, Alabama on December 1, 1955, which became one of the most infamous symbols of the modern Civil Rights Movement.

“CityLink is pleased to continue the tradition of honoring Rosa Parks on what would have been her 110th birthday. The actions she took on a public transportation bus back in 1955 had a lasting impact on the Civil Rights Movement and beyond. Her legacy is important for us to continue celebrating today,” said CityLink General Manager Doug Roelfs.

Parks passed away at the age of 92 in Detroit, Michigan on October 24, 2005. In addition to the seat reserved in Parks’ honor on bus 2238, there are several CityLink buses that feature Black History Month exterior signage. Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and Peoria native Richard Pryor are among the historic figures featured. New to this year’s signage are two buses that feature Annie Malone, who is considered to be one of the first black self-made female millionaires in the United States. She spent time in Peoria and attended Peoria High School. Her descendant, James Agbara Bryson, continues to share her legacy. He has partnered with the Peoria Riverfront Museum with a permanent display on Annie Malone’s life and legacy as an entrepreneur of haircare and cosmetic products and educational enterprise as the founder of Poro College in St. Louis, MO.