On the 68th anniversary of Rosa Parks’ arrest on a Montgomery bus, Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell is leading an effort in Congress to make Dec. 1 a federal holiday.

In a speech Friday, Sewell asked all members to co-sponsor House Bill 308, the Rosa Parks Day Act. According to Sewell and her cosponsors, this would mark the first federal holiday that honors a woman.

“Her legacy continues to inspire new generations of Americans to advance justice and equality,” Sewell said during her speech on the House floor. “Now is the time to pass this legislation and declare December 1st as a federal holiday and as Rosa Parks Day.”

Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in 1955 and was arrested. Though she was not the first person to be arrested, the incident inspired the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted for more than a year and eventually forced the end of segregation ordinances.

Parks was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1966 and was the first woman to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol rotunda.

Four states – Ohio, Oregon, California and Missouri – currently observe Rosa Parks Day as state holidays.

Alabama, Park’s home state, does not officially observe the holiday, but does allow counties and municipalities to elect to take the day as a full-fledged paid holiday.

The bill to make Dec. 1 a federal holiday is currently backed by 31 co-sponsors, all of whom are members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

“This is not just about Black history. It’s about American history,” Sewell said at a news conference Wednesday. “I know that all of us, this whole nation, has benefited from the courage and bravery of this one woman.”