Rosa’s haus ein Berliner?


May 3, 2017—Period rooms, like this Tudor hall, are by definition out of context. So too is the little house in which Rosa Parks lived out her later years in Detroit.

Newly arrived in Berlin, the civil rights icon’s former cottage is now an art project, curated by Ryan Mendoza. When the house was threatened with demolition, the American artist fought to preserve it, shipping it to his expat turf. Now, visitors can hear the voice of Parks, captured in a 1957 interview, describing the events that led to her refusal to give up her seat in the front of a bus in Montgomery, Ala. Surreal, yes. But Berlin has long been a haven for refugees.

Image credit: Gordon Welters for The New York Times

Source: Sally McGrane, “Saved From Demolition, Rosa Parks’s House Gets a Second Life,” The New York Times, May 2, 2017