icon. from The Free Dictionary (TFD)
a person or thing regarded as a symbol of a belief, nation, community, or cultural movement
The word icon originally had a deep religious significance, being (TFD)
A representation or picture of a sacred or sanctified Christian personage, traditionally used and venerated in the Eastern Church.
Rosa Parks has an almost religious significance for the Civil Rights Movement and for many of her admirers.
The words icon or iconic are used much more broadly, for example a fashion magazine might describe a simple little black dress (wildly overpriced) iconic. And Icon in Computerese means "a pictorial representation of a facility available on a computer system" (TFD), but none of these meanings should detract from the more profound meaning that Rosa Parks exemplifies.
