First seats of buses are reserved to honor civil rights icon's legacy

DETROIT (AP) -- In the city where she died and the city where she sparked the civil rights movement, the front of the bus is reserved for Rosa Parks.
Detroit and Montgomery, Ala., are reserving the first seats of their buses as a tribute to Parks' legacy until her funeral next week.
The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority also honored Parks by putting signs above seats in the front of 12 downtown buses that read: "This seat is reserved for no one. RTA honors the woman who took a stand by sitting down. Rosa Parks 1913-2005."
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick placed a black ribbon Thursday morning on the first passenger seat of one of about 200 buses where seats will be reserved.
"We cannot do enough to pay tribute to someone who has so positively impacted the lives of millions across the world," Kilpatrick said in a statement.
In some buses in Montgomery, the first seat was being covered with black fabric and a photograph of Parks was being displayed, according to the Montgomery Area Transit System.
Parks, the black woman who refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery in 1955, died Monday in Detroit at age 92. Parks, credited as a catalyst for the modern civil rights movement, moved to Detroit in 1957 after encountering threats, harassment and trouble finding work in Montgomery.
Parks' funeral is scheduled for Wednesday in Detroit.