The Capital News OCTOBER 2020 Volume 38, Issue 30 COMMUNITY NEWS P15

Rosa Parks: US civil rights legend’s house

Pictured: has been referred to as the “first lady of civil rights”[Credit: AP Photo/Getty A repeating soundtrack titled 8:46 plays alongside the displayed house, in reference to the length of time a white police officer al- legedly knelt on the neck of black man George The house is on display in Naples as part of an exhibition called Almost Home - The Rosa Parks House Project Floyd in May. [Credit: AP Photo/Getty Images] THE ONE-TIME HOME OF figure in the fight against institutionalized His killing sparked international protests and US CIVIL RIGHTS LEGEND racism. condemnation of police brutality and racism ROSA PARKS HAS GONE ON in the US. DISPLAY INSIDE THE ROYAL Her house will be on free display at the Royal PALACE OF NAPLES. Palace in Naples until 6 January 2021 Derek Chauvin, the former officer accused of killing Floyd, appeared in court last week. In 1955 Parks refused to give up her seat on city authorities planned to demolish a racially segregated bus in Alabama - a key the two-story building after the financial cri- moment in the US civil rights moment. sis in 2008. But Parks’ niece Rhea McCauley bought it from Detroit officials for $500 and She received death threats and moved north donated it to US artist Ryan Mendoza. to Detroit, where she briefly lived in the white clapboard house with relatives. Mr. Mendoza tried to have the city save the building but in 2016 took it apart and moved After a legal dispute in the US, the house is it to for display at his studio. now on display in Italy. In 2018, in Rhode Island The US Congress has referred to Parks as “the said it would display the house as part of a first lady of civil rights”. civil rights exhibition. But it then dropped out because of a legal dispute with her family. On 1 December 1955 in Montgomery, Ala- bama she refused to give up her seat on a bus Mr. Mendoza later contacted the Morra to a white passenger and was arrested for civil Greco Foundation where he previously disobedience. worked. The body agreed to show the house at the Royal Palace in Naples, with the back- The incident led to a year-long bus boycott in ing of the regional government in Campania. the city. In November 1956, a federal court The display is part of an exhibition called ruled that bus segregation was unconstitu- [Credit: AP Photo/Getty Images] tional, and Parks was immortalized as a key Almost Home - The Rosa Parks House Project.