A nearly three-meter tall bronze sculpture of the late civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks has been unveiled in the U.S. Capitol.

President Barack Obama and congressional leaders dedicated the first full length sculpture of a black woman to be placed in Statuary Hall.

President Obama said, "Rosa Parks lived a life of dignity and grace," and in a single moment changed the country and the world. He said in placing her statue in the Capitol, "She takes her rightful place among those who shaped the nation's course."

U.S. President Barack Obama (center) applauds after the unveiling of the Rosa Parks statue in the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Feb. 27, 2013. /Reuters

In a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement, Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus in 1955 in segregated Montgomery, Alabama. She was arrested, touching off a bus boycott that stretched over a year. In 1956, the Supreme Court banned segregation on public transportation.

Parks died in 2005 at age 92. The U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor on February 4, which would have been her 100th birthday.

The National Statuary Hall Collection of about 100 sculptures is housed in the Capitol building to honor individuals notable in U.S. history.