In the mid-1950s, Rosa Parks left an impression on the United States. She was one of many who fought for civil rights in America. And ever since, her movement has inspired many more.
Parks will be memorialized here at San Diego Mesa College this month. As part of Black History Month, a transit center will bear her name and memory at the east campus entryway.
The public is welcome to enjoy the center’s unveiling on Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. at the corner of Mesa College Drive and Mesa College Circle. Remarks, refreshments, music and entertainment will be provided.
The Rosa Parks Transit Center will consist of an augmented MTS bus shelter that features panels with the history and images of Parks. Actual Mesa College students’ photographic transparencies are laminated in between safety glass displayed above the benches.
Adjacent to the transit center is a “Quiet Strength” reflection area. This features Terra Cotta colored cast concrete curved walls, seating and a rose vessel.
Parks visited Mesa campus many times between 1992 and 1995. She was close with San Diego Community College District Chancellor Constance M. Carroll.
After Parks’ first visit, she named Mesa as the “San Diego-Mexico branch of the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development.
Upon Parks’ death in 2005 at the age of 92, the Mesa College Foundation “explored the possibility of honoring the late civil rights activist, and provided funding to explore a memorial on the grounds of Mesa College.”
The artists who created the center are Dr. Gerda Govine-Ituarte a diversity expert and CEO of Govine Consulting, Nena Karavasiles a public prtist and Mesa College Professor Mario Lara, also a public artist.
The total project cost was $150,000. Construction began in the summer of 2009.