Rosa Parks reunites with former civil rights "partner"

Jet, Dec 17, 2001

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Caption: ROSA PARKS REUNITES WITH FORMER CIVIL RIGHTS "PARTNER": Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks (seated), 88, reunites with her long-lost partner in civil rights history--a 1948 General Motors bus--during a recent private viewing of the bus at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI. The unrestored bus, which had been used in recent years as a tool shed, is believed to be the bus on which Parks, a former seamstress, was arrested Dec. 1, 1955, for refusing to give up her seat to a White passenger in Montgomery, AL. The episode sparked the yearlong Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped launch the Civil Rights Movement. The Henry Ford Museum purchased the bus in an Internet auction for $492,000 (JET, Nov. 19, 2001) and plans to restore it to its 1955 appearance. Conservation efforts are expected to cost between $100,000 and $200,000. This year marks the 46th anniversary of Parks' arrest for her act of civil disobedience.