Statue of Rosa Parks to be unveiled in Washington

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Officials in Washington are unveiling a statue of the woman whose actions sparked the Montgomery bus boycott nearly 60 years ago.

President Obama is slated to attend a ceremony for the statue of Rosa Parks on Wednesday.

The civil right pioneer will be the first African-American woman to be honored with a full-sized statue in the Capitol.

Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus in 1955. Her arrest prompted the bus boycott and helped start the modern civil rights movement.

The 9-foot-tall image of Parks is the first full-sized statue to be funded by Congress since 1873.

The ceremony to honor Parks was announced by House Speaker John Boehner.