An exhibition in a subway station? When the subject of the exhibition is Rosa Parks, heroine of the Montgomery Bus Boycott during 1955-56, it seems natural. Check it out at the Charles Center Metro Station through February 2009.

The exhibit, drawn from the archives of the AFRO-American newspapers, follows Rosa Parks’ life and details the events of the Montgomery Bus boycott. Articles and photographs that appeared in the AFRO-American from December 1955, when Rosa Parks chose to defy segregation practices in Montgomery, Alabama, through accounts of her funeral services in October 2005, are used as the basis for the exhibit.

“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true…The only tired I was, was tired of giving in,” said Rosa Parks about the events on December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama.

Mrs. Parks’ act sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which began as a one-day protest against her arrest and trial, and lasted for more than one year. It also thrust the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as leader of the Boycott, into the forefront of the African American struggle for justice and equality. In 1956, assigned bus seating based on race was ruled unconstitutional and officially outlawed in the United States.

Tags: AFRO-American newspapers, MLK, Montgomery Bus Boycott, Rosa Parks

This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 2:44 pm and is filed under Dr. King Initiative. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.