Museum Restores Rosa Parks Bus
Fri Jan 31, 9:27 PM ET Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!
By SARAH FREEMAN, Associated Press Writer
DEARBORN, Mich. - When the Montgomery bus boycott ended, then 20-year-old Jesse Daniels put on his best dress shirt, suit and tie, sat in the front of a city bus and rode to restaurant where he had previously not been allowed to eat.
Friday night, Daniels joined about 300 members and employees of the Henry Ford Museum to get a look at where historians say it all began — the Montgomery city bus on which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man.
"Now it's really something to see this bus here after everybody's efforts," said Daniels, whose memories of the boycott helped restorers perfect the bus.
"It's a powerful time."
After nearly five months of work, the once-decrepit bus was unveiled, looking as it did on the day of Parks' defiant act.
The white, green and mustard-colored bus was rolled onto the museum floor to the tune of "Lift Every Voice and Sing." It will be on permanent display at the museum.
"When you realize that a simple, mundane city bus could be a place of such importance, there's an immense wave of emotion," said museum curator Bill Pretzer, who was responsible for verifying that the bus was the one Parks rode on Dec. 1, 1955.
Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat, sparking the boycott. The protest led to the desegregation of public transportation nationwide and turned its leader, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., into a national figure.
The museum bought the bus for $492,000 in 2001 at a national auction after it was discovered in a field in Alabama. The bus, a rusted shell, was gouged by bullets where it had been used for target practice.
It sat untouched until September, when a team that builds concept cars and automotive prototypes began work on it.
Henry Ford Museum member Mark Schneider looks at the bus in which civil-rights icon Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in 1955, Friday, Jan. 31, 2003, in Dearborn, Mich. The museum unveiled the bus Friday for 300 of its members and will open the display to all museum goers on Saturday, the first day of Black History Month. The museum purchased the bus in October 2001 for $492,000 after it was found in a field in Alabama. (AP Photo/John F. Martin)
Keith Davis, right, and his son, Keith Jr., examine the bus Friday, Jan. 31, 2003, at the museum in Dearborn, Mich., in which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in 1955. The bus was unveiled for 300 museum members Friday and will be shown to the public starting Saturday, Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month. The museum purchased the bus in October 2001 for $492,000 after it was found in a field in Alabama. (AP Photo/John F. Martin)
Henry Ford Museum members watch as the bus in which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in 1955 is unveiled Friday, Jan. 31, 2003, in Dearborn, Mich. The museum purchased the bus in October 2001 for $492,000 after it was found in a field in Alabama. It took nearly five months to restore the bus to its original condition. (AP Photo/John F. Martin)
Frances McCans, a conservator technician at the Henry Ford Museum applies recreated Alabama red dirt on the Rosa Parks bus at the museum in Dearborn, Mich., Thursday, Jan. 30, 2003. After nearly five months of restoration the bus will be unveiled to the public on Friday during the museum's Black History Month program 'Celebrate Black History.' (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks holds the hand of a well-wisher at a ceremony honoring the 46th anniversary of her arrest for civil disobedience in this, Dec. 1, 2001 file photo, at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich. Parks will be honored at a 90th birthday celebration next month, according to the foundation named for Parks and her husband. The event will take place Feb. 14, 2003 at the Detroit Opera House and feature a musical performance by the Three Mo Tenors. Proceeds will benefitsix programs that provide services to adolescents ages 11 through 17 through the Rosa and Raymond Parks Foundation. (AP Photo/Paul Warner, File)