The Rosa Parks Museum is located on the
Troy University at Montgomery satellite campus, in
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...
. It has information, exhibits, and some artifacts from the 1955
Montgomery bus boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a foundational event in the civil rights movement in the United States ...
. This museum is named after civil rights activist
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "th ...
, who is known for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person on a city bus.
Museum
Inside the museum, there are interactive activities and even a reenactment of what happened on the bus as if you were outside the bus watching. There are artifacts in the museum from the
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a foundational event in the civil rights movement in the United States ...
.
This museum is significant to Montgomery because it exhibits events that had occurred during the civil rights era in
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County
, LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham
, area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
. one of the reasons to build the museum was due to the bus boycott that occurred in Montgomery. It was built in
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "th ...
's honor to educate and tell people of her story.
While the actual bus the on which the incident occurred is on display at
The Henry Ford Museum
The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, United States. The museum collection contains ...
in Dearborn, Michigan, there is one on exhibit which is identical to it.
Dedication
Troy University in Montgomery, Alabama wanted to dedicate their new library and museum to Rosa Parks, "The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement". The library carries her name and it commemorates her refusal to give up her seat on the Montgomery City Bus to a white man. The museum and library were opened on the anniversary of the day she refused to give up her seat: December 1.
For the 65th anniversary of the boycott, two new traveling exhibitions were added. "The Women of the Movement" tells the stories of
Jo Ann Robinson,
Aurelia Browder
Aurelia Shines Browder Coleman (January 29, 1919 – February 4, 1971) was an African-American civil rights activist in Montgomery, Alabama. In April 1955, almost eight months before the arrest of Rosa Parks and a month after the arrest of Claude ...
,
Claudette Colvin
Claudette Colvin (born Claudette Austin; September 5, 1939) is an American pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement and retired nurse aide. On March 2, 1955, she was arrested at the age of 15 in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up ...
,
Mary Louise Smith and
Lucille Times. "The Legacy of Rosa Parks" includes the museum history and the relevance of nonviolent disobedience today.
See also
*
List of museums focused on African Americans
This is a list of museums in the United States whose primary focus is on African American culture and history. Such museums are commonly known as African American museums. According to scholar Raymond Doswell, an African American museum is "an ...
References
External links
*
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Museums in Montgomery, Alabama
Troy University
History museums in Alabama
Civil rights movement museums
Montgomery bus boycott
African-American museums in Alabama