Black troops defending the US Capitol from pro-Trump rioters took a moment to snap a photo with Rosa Parks' statue

• National Guardsmen called up to defend the US Capitol paused for a photo with a statue of a civil rights icon only a week after a pro-Trump mob desecrated its halls.
• The tribute to Rosa Parks, who famously refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, is the first full-length statue of a Black American in the US Capitol.
• Americans were shocked by the pro-Trump mob who sieged the Capitol in a deadly assault and who carried hate symbols like Confederate flags and Nazi-inspired ones — historical enemies US troops defeated in America's deadliest wars.

National Guardsmen called up to defend the US Capitol paused for a photo with a statue of a civil rights icon a week after a pro-Trump mob desecrated its halls with symbols of hate.

A small group of Black service members gathered by the statue of Rosa Parks in the National Statuary Hall of the Capitol, a monument that portrays her refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger who had just stepped onto the bus. Her courageous act drew national attention and inspired widespread civil disobedience to Jim Crow-era laws like segregation on buses, which eventually the Supreme Court ruled as unconstitutional. The tribute to Parks is the first full-length statue of a Black American in the US Capitol, according to the architect of the Capitol.

Authorities are deploying 10,000 Guardsmen to the DC area by Saturday to support law enforcement as the FBI warns there could be days of armed people trying to disrupt or even threaten the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

On Jan. 6, a mob incited by President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol and overran police in a rampage that sent lawmakers running for cover and left five people dead. Members of the mob wore clothes calling for a 2nd Holocaust and the symbols of armed gangs and carried Confederate flags and Nazi-inspired ones - historical enemies US troops defeated in America's deadliest wars.

Staffers of color who work on Capitol Hill told the New York Times it would be a long time before they felt safe at work again. And Black and Latino janitors at the Capitol told Insider that it was "degrading" to clean up after the white mob who shattered windows, scrawled threats and smeared feces on walls.

Lawmakers arriving in the Capitol Wednesday, when the House holds impeachment hearings over Trump's role in the riot, found echelons of Guardsmen around the Capitol, some resting alongside their weapons and riot shields. The National Guard are expected to be in the area through Biden's inauguration.