Suozzi Announces Hempstead Transit Center to be Renamed the
Rosa Parks Hempstead Transit Center
in Honor of Civil Rights Leader

Mineola, NY – To honor the memory of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, the Hempstead Transit Center will be renamed the Rosa Parks Hempstead Transit Center, County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi announced.

“Through her personal courage and conviction, Rosa Parks shined a light on the gross injustice of segregation that had gone unchallenged for too long, and we are all the beneficiaries of her brave actions,” County Executive Suozzi said. “Today, Nassau County has elected officials, community and business leaders of all races in prominent roles. We all recognize that, in some quarters, racism remains an ugly reality. But we also have made great strides. Today, we are a county where minorities live, work and raise their families as an important part of the racially diverse fabric of Nassau. That is the legacy of Rosa Parks.

“To honor her memory and that of her important work, today we are renaming this vital transit hub for one of the most important figures in American history,” Suozzi said.

The Hempstead Transit Center serves as a gateway to Nassau County for many commuters, serving more than 25,000 MTA-Long Island Bus riders a day on 24 routes. Buses stop at the station more than 1,400 times a day. The transit center is also located across from the Hempstead Long Island Rail Road station, providing access to every corner of the County and the greater metropolitan region.

On Dec. 1, 1955, seamstress Rosa Parks refused to leave her bus seat for a white person. Her act of civil disobedience is recognized as the spark that began the Montgomery bus boycott and that gave life to the larger civil rights movement. Her image serves as an example of what can be accomplished when one person stands up for freedom. Parks died Oct. 24, 2005, a few months before the 50th anniversary of her historic refusal to move to the back of the bus.

In addition to the renaming of the terminal, a permanent exhibit of the civil rights movement will be constructed, telling the story of the struggle for equality through the photographs of photojournalists and artists who covered the unrest of that era, including the late Moneta Sleet, Jr., Jim Peppler, and Herbert Randall.

Sleet was the first black person to win a Pulitzer Prize for Journalism, in 1969, for his legendary photograph of the late Coretta Scott King at the funeral of her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and rose to prominence with his pictures of the 1956 Montgomery bus boycott, started by the actions of Rosa Parks.

Peppler, now a photographer at Newsday, served as Photo Editor for the Civil Rights weekly newspaper, The Southern Courier, covering events in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia between May 1965 and May 1968. He has covered a wide range of events from El Salvadoran refugees living on Long Island, various Native American communities and the Mexico City earthquake.

Randall’s photographs were gathered into a collection entitled “Faces of Freedom Summer: The Photographs of Herbert Randall.” The book encapsulates the New York native’s journey into Mississippi during the summer of 1964 to join citizens in the battle for equality. Randall’s photos of that summer serve as a reminder of the struggle and courage of people struggling for their rights.