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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — The City of Huntsville held its fifth annual celebration in honor of Rosa Parks Day Thursday.

The event kicked off Thursday morning at the parking and public transit station on church street and is meant to honor the Alabama native and civil rights leader’s birthday.

The city offered free rides on public buses throughout the day to commemorate Park’s original role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Several of Huntsville’s buses had their first seat draped in honor of Parks, who passed away in 2005.

Kenny Anderson with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion said Parks played a pivotal role in the history of civil rights.

“The courageous thing that rosa parks did on Dec. 1, 1955 represented a patchwork in a quilt that has carried us forward for over 60 years towards a place where we now have an opportunity to experience a community where better cannot be the standard,” he said, “but that each of us will push towards best.”

The celebration was put on by the Rosa Parks Committee of Huntsville, which was founded by State Representatives Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, and Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, in 2018.