At Henry Ford Museum. See link:

http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid=34&in=us&cat=african_americans
ryarger@rypn.org

This story ran on The National Trust's website back in November, 2001 shortly after the bus was identified as THE Rosa Parks bus. It was being used as a tool shed all these years. Good "before" photo at the link.

http://www.nthp.org/magazine/archives/arc_news/111501.htm
SJHussar@aol.com

> At Henry Ford Museum. See link:

Not a rail item, but an worthy historic preservation project, reminding us of history that some would like to forget.
Looks like a GMC TDH type bus, which I'm sure some visitors to the FORD museum will comment on. Coming from an operating museum background, I would ask, "Does it run?" (restored would imply that)
The paint job is the typical National City Lines "Fruit Salad", which adorned many streetcars (and Key System suburbans) in the fifties, which brings up a question for the traction folks: How do you answer visitors who bring up the old "GM-Firestone-Standard Oil-etc" conspiracy theory? One doesn't like to get into politics, and although Van Wilkins debunked it in New Electric Railway Journal around 1995, some people look on it as an article of faith.


brunettedavis@aol.com

WOW! Take a look at the MONEY spent on this project! While I realize that it's a historically significant piece, I guess there's no limit when it comes to "politically correct" projects.


schwartzsj@juno.com

> WOW! Take a look at the MONEY spent on this
> project! While I realize that it's a
> historically significant piece, I guess
> there's no limit when it comes to
> "politically correct" projects.

OK, why is this project "politically correct?" To my mind, that phrase is perjoritive.

First, I personally see nothing perjoritive about spending resources to restore the literal birthplace of the modern civil rights movement. It is, to be blunt, a heck of a lot more meaningful and significant to most Americans than the average Pullman or freight car, and in my mind deserves to be respected accordingly.

Second, what is the factual basis for concluding that the project was too expensive? The acquisition cost of the bus? The cost of the restoration? If so, what WAS the restoration cost? How does the budget for this project compare to other similar projects either from transit preservation or from civil rights interpretation?

Before I accept the perjoritive interpretation of this project and its budget I need to hear more evidence, and context for that evidence.

Until that time I'm inclined to assume the Ford Museum administration knows what its doing in the context of its resources and mission--which, I note, is to preserve and interpret artifacts associated with remarkable Americans.

eledbetter@rypn.org

> WOW! Take a look at the MONEY spent on this
> project! While I realize that it's a
> historically significant piece, I guess
> there's no limit when it comes to
> "politically correct" projects.

Politically Correct, Steve? What's that supposed to mean?

As someone who grew up in Alabama during the Civil Rights era, I saw daily examples of what the Movement was fighting against. For you to dismiss the sacrifices made by people of all colors during that time is thoughtless.

I say it's money well spent. We need reminding where we came from occasionally, so that we don't end up back there.

JAC

SteamCentral

I'm all for recognizing this historic deed, but wow, look at the near-$500,000 purchase price for a rusted relic that the county should have hauled away as a public eyesore. As with priceless works of art, I don't have much respect for those who profit handsomely from selling historic things that should belong to us all. Had that bus sat in my yard I would have happily donated it to the proper organization. Fortunately, it appears no public funds were used here, but if they had it would show the KKK really had won after all.

> Politically Correct, Steve? What's that
> supposed to mean?

> As someone who grew up in Alabama during the
> Civil Rights era, I saw daily examples of
> what the Movement was fighting against. For
> you to dismiss the sacrifices made by people
> of all colors during that time is
> thoughtless.

> I say it's money well spent. We need
> reminding where we came from occasionally,
> so that we don't end up back there.

> JAC


ryarger@rypn.org

That article shows where much of the cost came from - nearly $0.5 million is quite a price for an old bus!!

The article did not say how the bus was identified as THE Rosa Parks bus. At the time, who would have paid attention to the bus number? Who in 1955 could have anticipated the significance of Mrs. Parks' defiant act?

tr2manz@frontiernet.net

> Fortunately, it appears
> no public funds were used here, but if they
> had it would show the KKK really had won
> after all.

Mr. Yarger,

Could you please explain how using public funds to restore a historic artifact for a museum oriented towards public education is in line with attaining white supremacy through violent intimidation?

Lead Poisoning Dangers
rrhistorian@hotmail.com

> That article shows where much of the cost
> came from - nearly $0.5 million is quite a
> price for an old bus!!

> The article did not say how the bus was
> identified as THE Rosa Parks bus. At the
> time, who would have paid attention to the
> bus number? Who in 1955 could have
> anticipated the significance of Mrs. Parks'
> defiant act?

You have to look through the "FAQ" to find out how it was identified. It seems pretty convincing.

The bus was sold via an Internet auction for $427,00 and something, but it isn't clear to me who owned it and got this huge windfall.



Identifying the Bus

The restoration did receive public funding:

"PresidentÂ’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities announced in September 2002 that the Rosa Parks bus project had received $205,000 in funding through the Save America's Treasures Program."

So the total cost was about 450k to acquire, and 300k to restore, or roughly 750k in all.

Yes, 750k is a nice sum of money. And no, I still have no problem with spending it on this bus whatsoever. This bus is to American social history what the Spirit of St. Louis is to American aviation history, and I'd have no problem with spending 750k on the Spirit, either, if need be.

eledbetter@rypn.org

> The restoration did receive public funding:

> "PresidentÂ’s Committee on the Arts and
> the Humanities announced in September 2002
> that the Rosa Parks bus project had received
> $205,000 in funding through the Save
> America's Treasures Program."

> So the total cost was about 450k to acquire,
> and 300k to restore, or roughly 750k in all.

> Yes, 750k is a nice sum of money. And no, I
> still have no problem with spending it on
> this bus whatsoever. This bus is to American
> social history what the Spirit of St. Louis
> is to American aviation history, and I'd
> have no problem with spending 750k on the
> Spirit, either, if need be.

Just to verify how they knew it was THE bus:
Long before they knew where the bus was, they (the Henry Ford Museum, Civil Rights Historians) had found the original log sheets for the bus garage for that week. Yes, someone, an employee, had the foresight to write the number of the bus (as well as who the driver as I am to understand) on the logsheet for that week, as well as noting the incident. Whether he knew the incident that happened was such an historic event, or (and this is more likely to me) he was noting an incident out of a need for book-keeping, we may never know. The fact is that the bus was tracked down by its number and via its disposition. While maybe not an exact science, it has better documentation that a lot of other "sacred" objects out there, including a few pieces of rail equipment I know of (including our combine!).

TJG


Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

This article from the Friday, September 13, 2002 issue of the Detroit News should provide the answer as to how the bus was identified. If the link doesn't work, try searching on the Detroit News website at www.detnews.com.

Detroit News Article
wbaoffice@ameritech.net

There's a lesson in the Rosa Parks bus installation for railroad museums. (A bit more information: the bus was dedicated in a very high-profile ceremony in Dearborn yesterday, on Rosa Parks' 90th birthday. The restoration was done in Pontiac by a firm specializing in prototype vehicle construction for the automakers. The $300,000 bill is not out of line for big auto restorations to like-new condition, although some red Alabama dirt was smeared onto the wheelwells.)

At the time the Ford Museum was doing the bus, the Steam Railroading Institute was offered a C&O 10-6 sleeper by two generous donors. (The City of Ashland. Don't bother looking it up in your Randall books: it's listed as "scrapped, 1971" in most references, proving that there's still a few things to be found in barns.)

A sleeper was not altogether close to our mission statement, so, as attractive as this car was, we agonized a bit over taking it. Just like anyone ought to when offered anything as labor-intensive as a stainless-sheathed, wood-floored sleeping car.

Ultimately, we decided to accept the gift. One of the motivating factors was the realization that people in Michigan are going to want a sleeping car to point to when they explain the special relationship between the International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and the civil rights movement. (Read "Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle" for the story of how the union's leadership overlapped that of the civil rights struggle, and how porters provided the network of inter-city communication between activists in all cities.)

Students can read history all day, but it still becomes more real when they see a person, place, or thing associated with the history. In some sense, it doesn't become real until people see something tangible. This is one of the points of museums, and it's why it makes perfect sense for the Ford Museum to invest $700,000 in this bus. (In a crass commercial sense, I suspect the Museum will turn a profit on this exhibit in induced attendance.)

This history is of enormous importance in Michigan, and we now have the only sleeping car on public display in this state. And it's a Michigan car, too, and one that was never Amtraked. Definitely important enough to justify a side-sheet job.

Aarne H. Frobom
The Steam Railroading Institute
P. O. Box 665
Owosso, MI 48867

The way in which this bus was identified shows the importance of saving scrapbooks, dispatch sheets, and similar ephemeral items of transportation history. Working in the library of the Museum of Transportation I often see interesting items that give us insights on the daily workings of transportation companies. This shows how such items may be of more importance than we can possibly imagine. Please be sure that your families realize that your collection may also be important and make some arrangements for its placement at a museum or library (ours, for example) where it will be available to future researchers.


Museum of Transportation
rdgoldfede@aol.com