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Thousands Gather at the Capitol to Remember a Hero

Thousands of people passed Sunday night by the remains of Rosa Parks, the first woman to be honored by lying in the Capitol Rotunda.

Shortly before 8 p.m., the coffin bearing Rosa Parks, the accidental matriarch of the civil rights movement who died last Monday at 92, arrived at the Capitol and was carried by a military guard to lie in the Rotunda.

A seamstress by trade, Mrs. Parks became the first woman ever accorded such a tribute and just the 31st person over all since 1852, a list that includes Abraham Lincoln and nine other presidents.

Read entire article at NYT