In a tribute to civil rights leaders Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., several of their friends and colleagues reflected on the 45th anniversary of the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott at the Kennedy School of Government yesterday.

The panelists, all civil rights leaders themselves, emphasized the individual courage it took to get the civil rights movement going and propel it to fruition.

The boycott began when, on December 1, 1955, Parks, a secretary for the NAACP, refused to give up her seat to a white woman, violating a municipal law.

"Parks' action showed that one person who really has a commitment can make a difference," said panelist Dorothy Height, who is chair and president of Emerita, the national council of Negro women.

Height related recollections of a conversation she'd had with Parks herself.

"Rosa told me that her courage at that moment came from a voice in her head saying, 'You're a child of God, you can make a difference.' It drowned out the voices of everyone trying to get her to move," said Height.

Parks' action led to "the birth of a new improved Negro, who now had pride and dignity," said Juanita Abernathy, who was a close associate of Dr. Martin Luther King during '60s.

Fred Gray, the attorney who defended Rosa Parks in the Alabama courts, said it was important not to forget that many unsung actors also contributed to the civil rights movement.