HARRISBURG, FEBRUARY 5, 2007 -- Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives today presented state Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione with the “Rosa Parks Award,” citing Tartaglione's courage and struggle on behalf of Pennsylvanians facing adversity.

     State Rep. Louise Bishop presented Tartaglione with the award, saying Tartaglione and Parks, the late civil rights leader, “are connected by their actions.”

     “Tina has helped every ethnic group in this state,” Bishop said. “And by doing that she has reinforced that we are one family.”

     After suffering a severe spinal chord injury and paralysis, Tartaglione continued to fight for an increase in Pennsylvania’s minimum wage, better safety for workers, and equality of wages.
     “She is one of the most outstanding women,” Bishops said, “who lifted people up while sitting in her seat.”

     Last year, Tartaglione won passage of Pennsylvania’s first minimum wage increase in more than a decade, a few weeks after walking to her Senate seat for the first time in three years.

     “I am truly honored and humbled to receive this recognition today,” Tartaglione said.  “The courage that Rosa Parks demonstrated provides the kind of inspiration that many of us draw from to overcome obstacles in our lives.”

     By state law, Feb. 4 is “Rosa Parks Remembrance Day” in Pennsylvania.   In 1955, Parks refused an order to give up her seat on a bus for a white passenger.  Her arrest touched off the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a seminal event in the American civil rights struggle.  She died on Oct. 24, 2005 at the age of 92.