By the time this is printed, Rosa Louise Parks will have been laid to rest. At this time of national remembrance, I feel compelled to reflect on what Parks' life and legacy means to me.

The media has done a relatively good job of debunking many of the myths surrounding her life, for example, the "old, tired" myth and the "unsupported solo act" myth. But I've been waiting for someone to detail the feminist significance of Parks.

She cared deeply about the advancement and emancipation of women. She served as a member of the Board of Advocates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. She co-founded an "Institute for Self-Development" that targets children in its campaign to teach the younger generation a part of history she helped shape.

Parks, even in death, is still making history. She is the first woman to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol, an honor shared with 30 other Americans. Former President Bill Clinton said of Parks in awarding her the Presidential Medal of Freedom that she "ignited the single most significant social movement in American history." Among other titles bestowed upon Parks is "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement."

I think it is noteworthy that the movement had a recognizable female trailblazer despite the predominately male leadership that rose up around her, most famously a man who would lead the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The civil rights movement was full of heroines and heroes, most of whom will be forever unnamed and unknown. Social movements rely on ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Parks broadens a restrictive gender lens of the civil rights movement to highlight the often understated role of women in the pursuit of racial equality. Bullets, cannons of water, and all other kinds of violence targeted women and men alike. Young women and children were victims of violence as well; we recall those four girls in Birmingham who lost their lives in a 1963 church bombing. The forces of racism did not respect gender and therefore women of color responded to the calls for social change.

Parks' legacy goes far beyond the bus incident and reveals the tremendous impact of women activists for social justice. The women's liberation movement of the 1970s drew much of its organizational and ideological inspiration from the Parks-sparked civil rights movement of the 1960s. I appreciate Janice Staral's remembrance in a Nov. 1 Viewpoint of Parks, which sees in Parks' story the success of civic activism. Parks has the distinct honor of being the woman who inspired a thousand activists. Far better, I think, than being the face that launched a thousand ships.

Parks was a feminist in her own right. She gives new meaning, new opportunity for our nation to seriously consider Abigail Adams' request of over two centuries ago to "remember the ladies."

If there is a national holiday established to honor this great feminist, leader, and "national treasure," how will we spend Rosa Parks Day? Will we ask ourselves what we are tired of? And, more importantly, what we intend on doing about it? In celebrating the memory of Parks, the women, men and children of America must share her commitment to equality, whatever the cost may be.