While Rosa Parks could almost qualify for a thread in the folklore category, I'll open as BS.

There have been several reports/comments here at mudcat on the parts Rosa played in US Civil Rights actions, but a search doesn't find her name in thread titles. Perhaps anyone who remembers which "News" or "Random" agglomeration those were posted in could add links.

The new news is:

Rosa Parks' belongings set to go under hammer

From schoolbooks to hats, collection could earn up to $10 million at auction
The Associated Press
updated 4:05 a.m. CT, Fri., July. 4, 2008

brief extract:

Parks left nearly all of her estate to the Detroit-based Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, which was created to teach young people leadership and character development. But her 13 nieces and nephews, which feuded for years with the people she appointed to handle her affairs, filed a legal challenge to Parks' will six months after she died.

A settlement was eventually reached, although terms of the deal were sealed. Guernsey's, which had inventoried Parks' possessions, was asked by the court to sell them.

Ettinger said the proceeds from the sale will be split between the institute and Parks' relatives. There's no deadline for the sale.

/quote

At the link, there should be sufficient commentary to refresh the memory for any who've forgotten of who this person was.

The hope is that much of the estate will stay together and will go to an archive; but ones most interested and most likely to make use of her artifacts may not have the funds necessary to keep her collection intact.

John