Grand Rapids Public Museum Exhibition: Rosa Parks – An American Legacy

The Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) announced today a new mini-exhibit titled Rosa Parks – An American Legacy will open on February 4, 2016. Inthis new exhibition, visitors will learn about Rosa Parks’ impact on the Civil Rights Movement and its connection to Grand Rapids.

60 years after the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Museum is commemorating and celebrating the changes that occurred. Like most sizable American cities, Grand Rapids experienced its share of racial unrest, especially in the late 1960s when more than 2,200 Grand Rapidians marched to support the civil rights demonstrators in the south.

Rosa Parks holds up her arrest number as her mug is taken, left, and Rosa Parks and E.D. Nixon, former president of the Alabama NAACP, talk at her March 19, 1956, trial at the Montgomery courthouse.Mrs. Rosa Parks and E.D. Nixon, left, former president of the Alabama NAACP, arrive at court in Montgomery March 19, 1956 for the trial in the racial bus boycott. Mrs. Parks was fined $14 on Dec. 5 for failing to move to the segregated section of a city bus. The boycott started on the day she was fined. There were 91 other defendants. (AP Photo/Gene Herrick)

Touching on Rosa Parks’ important role, this exhibit follows her life as the nation changed. Rosa Parks’ decision not to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery bus in 1955 may have been spontaneous, but it was not unexpected. Rosa Parks had been actively fighting for civil rights her whole life. She spoke out against injustice wherever she saw it, supporting causes from voting rights to sexual violence against women and of course, segregation. As visitors read about the Montgomery Bus Boycott, they have the chance to sit in a vintage bus seat and think about what they would have done in Rosa Parks’ shoes.

The exhibit includes a variety of photographs and artifacts, along with winning essays from the City of Grand Rapids Rosa Parks Essay Contest that has been held annually  since 2010, when the a bronze statue of Rosa Parks by sculptor Ed Dwight was installed at the northwest corner of Rosa Parks Circle.

Throughout the Museum, visitors will be pointed to other exhibits and artifacts that highlight African American accomplishments in history. Follow “Bus Stops” on all three floors to read more about these.

“Through these mini-exhibitions, we plan to tie into national and current events and showcase our Collection on a routine basis to our visiting public,” said Kate Moore, VP of Marketing and PR for the GRPM. “With so many commemorating her contributions on Rosa Parks Day in February, it was a natural place to start.”

Admission to the exhibit will be included with general admission to the GRPM. This exhibit will be on display through March 26, 2015.