Mourners packed the 2,500-seat sanctuary of Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church and hundreds crowded onto sidewalks and into the auditorium of a nearby office building to hear or see broadcasts of the three-hour service. As those outside sang along with “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “We Shall Overcome,” their voices could be heard inside the red-brick church.
The Washington Post reported that talk show host Oprah Winfrey spoke of learning about Parks as child. She recalled her father telling her “about this colored woman who refused to give up her seat on the bus. In my child’s mind, I thought, ‘She must be really big,’ ” Winfrey said, to laughter.
When she met the diminutive Parks years later, Winfrey added, “I said, ‘Thank you. For myself and for every colored girl and every colored boy.’. . . I would not be standing here today, nor standing where I stand every day . . . had she not chosen to say we shall not — we shall not — be moved.”