Two new exhibits are coming to the Homewood Public Library. One will share the legacy of Rosa Parks through April, and a May exhibit will celebrate Asian Pacific American history.
ROSA PARKS
Troy University’s Rosa Parks Museum is helping to share the legacy of Parks and other women who played key roles within the Montgomery Bus Boycott through a pair of traveling exhibits.
The exhibits, “Tired of Giving in: Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott” and “Women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott,” were made possible by a grant the museum received from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Both exhibits will be on display in the Homewood Public Library’s Ellenburg Gallery, located at 1721 Oxmoor Road in Homewood, from April 19-30. It will be available for public viewing from 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For additional information, contact Heather Cover at heather.cover@homewoodpubliclibrary.org.
“The mission of the Rosa Parks Museum is to honor the legacy of Mrs. Parks and showcase the lessons of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the many who stood firmly to bring about change,” said Donna Beisel, assistant director of the Museum. “We seek to do this by providing a platform for scholarly dialogue, civic engagement and positive social change, and we are pleased to be able to share the stories of these courageous women across the country through these traveling exhibits.”
The “Tired of Giving in: Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott” exhibit provides an overview of the life and activism of Mrs. Parks and the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
“Women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott” utilizes oral history interviews, digitized archival material and court documents to tell the heroic stories of Jo Ann Robinson, Aurelia Browder, Claudette Colvin, Mary Louise Smith, Lucille Times, Susie McDonald, Virginia Durr, Georgia Gilmore, Coretta Scott King, Juanita Abernathy, Juliette Hampton Morgan and Jean Graetz. Important grassroots political organizations such as the Women’s Political Council will also be highlighted through the exhibit.
Each 12-panel exhibit contains graphics and text content, photographs and interactive exhibits that can be accessed through visitors’ smart devices. Educational resources such as lesson plans for teachers and a scavenger hunt will be available online.
The Rosa Parks Museum, located on Troy University’s Montgomery Campus, was opened on Dec. 1, 2000, with the mission of preserving and interpreting the story and lasting legacy of Mrs. Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott for future generations. Constructed on the site of the former Empire Theater, the museum stands on the spot of Mrs. Parks’ historic 1955 arrest for refusing to relinquish her seat on a Montgomery city bus to a white male.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s approximately 120,000 libraries and 35,000 museums and related organizations. The agency’s mission is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement.
ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN HISTORY
In May, Homewood Public Library’s Ellenburg Art Gallery will host I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story. This poster exhibition was created by the Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibition Service and the Smithsonian's Asian Pacific American Center to celebrate Asian Pacific American history across a multitude of incredibly diverse cultures and explore how Asian Pacific Americans have shaped and been shaped by the course of the nation’s history.
"While this journey has many points of origin, it truly began in America, a nation founded and built by immigrants, and enriched by the vibrant diversity of their heritages and traditions," the Homewood library said in a release. "Asian immigrants are an integral part of every chapter in this country’s great chronicle, building bridges, toppling barriers, forming communities — and pointing the way to its future. Rich with interesting, often surprising stories, this set of eight visually compelling posters takes a sweeping look at a little-known chapter in American history, from the very first Asian immigrants to the influx of highly skilled workers many decades later."
I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story was created by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. The exhibition is supported by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Teacher resources courtesy of Teaching Tolerance.
— Submitted by Heather Cover
