The Henry Ford Museum says this is the bus on which Rosa Parks refused to take a seat at the back - one of the sparks that lit the Civil Rights Movement here in the US

[Photogoof]

I had no idea it had been preserved; I'm glad it was.

[reh321]

I had no idea it had been preserved; I'm glad it was.

At one time I had mixed feelings with what they were doing with Henry's money - one could argue that the Wright Brothers house and shop should remain in Dayton. Ohio, for example. Then I heard the story of Noah Webster's house, which was originally located in New Haven, Connecticut. Yale University had been using it as a fraternity house, but Ford's men with their money arrived just before the wreckers - Yale valued that space, and what they could put there, more than the history it represented. Ford's men are relentless when they go after something, and I now believe we all benefit.

[Photogoof]

At one time I had mixed feelings with what they were doing with Henry's money - one could argue that the Wright Brothers house and shop should remain in Dayton. Ohio, for example. Then I heard the story of Noah Webster's house, which was originally located in New Haven, Connecticut. Yale University had been using it as a fraternity house, but Ford's men with their money arrived just before the wreckers - Yale valued that space, and what they could put there, more than the history it represented. Ford's men are relentless when they go after something, and I now believe we all benefit.

Interesting; I didn't know about that, either. I'd have loved to have seen Lincoln's chair when I visited Ford's Theatre, but it was in another "Ford" building. At least these pieces of history still exist.

[normhead]

My father and Rosa parks, knew each other on first name basis towards the end of their lives. I probably still have the book she signed for him signed around here somewhere. I had my own civl rights episode on a similar bus in Chattanooga Tenessee. Travelling with my white mother we were informed we'd have to sit in different parts of the bus, A Tenessee state trooper thoughtfully worked out a compromise. She sat in the last seat of the while section, I sat in the front seat of the black section, we were the only two on an otherwise empty bus. Thanks for posting.

[reh321]

Interesting; I didn't know about that, either. I'd have loved to have seen Lincoln's chair when I visited Ford's Theatre, but it was in another "Ford" building. At least these pieces of history still exist.

Ford's Theater has a rather checkered past; I'm not clear on the details, but we as Americans took really lousy care of much of our history (*) until sometime in the 20th century; the interior of Ford's Theater as people see it today is not the historic interior - they had to completely rebuild it in recent years; I'm not sure whether it was allowed to decay or "modernized" in between.


(*) for example, as much as the Texans revere The Alamo, a modern bank sits on part of the historic "footprint" of the original mission. Two structures remain {including the Chapel, of course}, but modern day visitors get an incomplete view of what was there Davy Crockett and the others died there.

[PJ1]

Something to make us think. We can't preserve everything but we need to keep enough to remind us where we came from. The US was not the only place that had discrimination.

[MarkJerling]

My father and Rosa parks, knew each other on first name basis towards the end of their lives. I probably still have something the book she signed for him signed around here somewhere. I had my own civl rights episode on a similar bus in Chattanooga Tenessee. Travelling with my white mother we were informed we'd have to sit in different parts of the bus, A Tenessee state trooper thoughtfully worked out a compromise. She sat in the last seat of the while section, I sat in the front seat of the black section, we were the only two on an otherwise empty bus. Thanks for posting.

Norm, that's terrible. You could not sit next to your own mother on a bus?

[reh321]

Norm, that's terrible. You could not sit next to your own mother on a bus?

Tennessee was part of the traditional "Confederacy". I'm guessing this happened in the 1950s; they were very rigid until federal laws and federal enforcement changed things. I'll need to {find, then} post a photo I have of a "Jim Crow" railroad car designed to provide the separation required by those states. The museum has a "station" near the bus with a "white" waiting room and a "colored" waiting room, each with an appropriately labeled water fountain.


note to self: I need to see if I can find a way to photograph that exhibit

[foxandcrow]

Great photo and interesting story.

[MarkJerling]

Tennessee was part of the traditional "Confederacy". I'm guessing this happened in the 1950s; they were very rigid until federal laws and federal enforcement changed things. I'll need to {find, then} post a photo I have of a "Jim Crow" railroad car designed to provide the separation required by those states. The museum has a "station" near the bus with a "white" waiting room and a "colored" waiting room, each with an appropriately labeled water fountain.


note to self: I need to see if I can find a way to photograph that exhibit

We had the same sort of thing in Apartheid South Africa when I was a kid. Talk about a parallel universe.

[normhead]

Norm, that's terrible. You could not sit next to your own mother on a bus?

Well before that trooper, who was obviously a good man came up with the solution, my mother refused to sit apart from me (I was 8 years old). The trooper said a few times "I don't believe in this law, but I'm paid to enforce it." There were threats of jail, and sending me off to the black Children"s Aid, and her to jail. I've always been grateful for that trooper. Without his patience it could have been a lot worse. And there were many troopers with whom it would have been a lot worse. I still count it the as one of my lucky days.

[Kerrowdown]

I still count it the as one of my lucky days

Norm, I can honestly say that changes in our society today concerning racial equality... is without question a change for the better, unlike so many other things that just seem to get steadily worse.

[reh321]

We had the same sort of thing in Apartheid South Africa when I was a kid. Talk about a parallel universe.

After the US Civil War, the defeated Confederacy was occupied by the Union for just eight years; ending this period, with the spirit of the Confederacy still very much alive, was the main concession northern Republicans made in the compromise which gave the Presidency to them in the election of 1876.

United States presidential election, 1876 - Wikipedia

[Photogoof]

Who would have thought one photo would have created such an interesting thread? I'm so glad you posted it, reh321.