Rosa Parks series · Finding #77 · Friday 2 October 2026
Burlingame Tribute, February 12, 1993 — Carson Keynote, Parks Guest Speaker
A program in the Rosa Parks Papers documents a Northern California birthday tribute at the San Francisco Airport Marriott in Burlingame. It distinguishes keynote speaker Professor Clayborne Carson from guest speaker Mrs. Rosa L. Parks. The program alone does not prove delivery or attendance.
What the program says
- Date/venue: Friday, February 12, 1993 — San Francisco Airport Marriott, Burlingame, California.
- Organizer: African American Heritage Committee of University A.M.E. Zion Church, Palo Alto (church organizer ≠ venue in Palo Alto).
- Styling: “68th Annual Celebration of Black History Month,” national theme “Afro-American Scholars: Writers, Activists and Leaders.” Parks named on the cover.
- Sequence (leaf 23): Sheila Robinson (KSOL-FM) mistress of ceremonies; Floyd Thompkins Jr. (Stanford Memorial Church) invocation; dinner; vocalist Sandra McDonald with accompanist Valenica Jarrett; California proclamation assigned to Robinson; Clayborne Carson (director, MLK Papers Project at Stanford) labeled “Keynote Speaker”; then Elaine Steele; then “Guest Speaker … Mrs. Rosa L. Parks”; audience anthem; closing by committee chair Cole Cannon.
Parks’s actual 80th birthday was February 4 — February 12 is a post-birthday tribute. A separate February 13 youth-salute program (leaf 25, Foothill Campus Center) must not be collapsed into the Burlingame dinner. Leaf 22 is an unfinished placeholder, not proof of Heritage Foundation sponsorship.
Limits
Contemporaneous program, not a post-event report, recording, attendance list, or photograph. Warrants: Parks was listed to speak and Carson was assigned the keynote — not that either delivered remarks or that a proclamation issued. Exact dinner hour, delivered text, and attendee count unverified.
Source trail
Repo: rosa-parks-burlingame-1993-carson-keynote. LOC Rosa Parks Papers, Events 1993 folder 1, leaves 21–25. Institutional scans; method: inspect original page images and printed speaker labels rather than OCR or search-generated text.