Bus for Sale: The Rosa Parks bus journey

What became of the Rosa Parks bus? For years, the vehicle was forgotten as the country focused on the struggle against racial inequality. Yet tangible objects often serve as vital focal points for history.

Following Parks’ arrest, a boycott of the Montgomery bus system began the following Monday. It lasted until late 1956, when the Supremes ruled that Montgomery’s bus segregation laws were unconstitutional.

Montgomery city officials were not interested in Bus 2857 becoming a civil rights symbol. However, because buses were expensive, the city kept it in service until 1970, when it was decommissioned and sold. Roy H. Summerford of Montgomery bought the bus for storage. While bus system personnel told him it was the famous vehicle, Summerford had no proof — and it mattered little while he was using the bus to store lumber and tools in a field.

After Summerford died in 1985, the bus passed to his daughter, Vivian Williams, and her husband, Donnie. They wanted to sell it but first needed to authenticate the vehicle.

Police and media reports from the era never mentioned a bus number. However, proof eventually surfaced in a scrapbook kept by Charles Cummings, a Montgomery bus station manager. Next to an article about the boycott, he had scribbled “#2857” and “#2857/Blake.” General Motors records further confirmed the bus was sold to the Montgomery transit system.

With its identity verified, the Williamses put the bus up for auction in 2001. They had previously tried to sell the bus on eBay in 2000 without authentication for $100,000, but had no takers. A Wall Street Journal article piqued interest in the bus, leading to authentication, leading to the 2001 auction. Despite spending 30 years as a rusted tool shed, its notoriety sparked a bidding war.

The online auction, hosted by MastroNet, began Oct. 25, 2001, with a starting bid of $50,000. The bidding was so competitive that it lasted until 2 a.m. the following morning. Curators from The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn, Michigan, won with a bid of $492,000, outbidding the Smithsonian Institution and the city of Denver. At the same auction, the museum also obtained the original scrapbook that authenticated the bus and a Montgomery City Lines driver’s uniform.

The museum spent more than $300,000 on restoration. Workers preserved roughly 85 percent of the original materials, including the flooring and seats, to return the vehicle to its 1955 appearance. While it may seem like a standard classic car restoration, the project was fueled by more than just pride. Curators felt the bus, as a symbol of the civil rights movement, deserved the highest recognition.

The bus debuted Feb. 1, 2003, at the Ford Museum as part of the “With Liberty and Justice for All” exhibit. It remains there today, where visitors can sit in the same seat where Parks made her stand.

Kelly Burke was born in Knoxville where he spent his younger years, followed by high school years in Atlanta where he graduated from Georgia Tech, and Mercer Law School. He has been in private practice, a magistrate judge, and an elected district attorney. He writes about the law, politics, music, and Ireland. He and his wife enjoy gardening, playing with their Lagotto Ramanolo named George Harrison, and spending time with their grandchildren. To see this column or Kelly’s archives, visit www.kellyrburke.com. You can email Kelly at dakellyburke@gmail.com.