Rosa Parks' Detroit Home Is Being Auctioned Off

The Detroit home that civil rights icon Rosa Parks lived in after fleeing from the south is up for auction. Parks spent much of her life in Detroit, moving there after she helped spark the bus boycotts in Montgomery, Alabama. Now, more than six decades after Parks lived there, the house is back on the market in an auction of historic African American artifacts.

Parks moved to the house in 1957 with her husband Raymond, fleeing the unemployment, ostracism and death threats she received for her activism, the Smithsonian reported. The tiny, wood-framed house once supported Parks and 17 other family members. The house was eventually abandoned after her death and put up for demolition.

In 2014, Parks’ niece Rhea McCauley purchased the crumbling home for just $500, saving it from demolition. She sought investors to help her transform it into a museum or memorial, but had no luck until 2016, when American artist Ryan Mendoza joined the effort. Mendoza salvaged parts from the icon’s former home and created a unique art installation that’s been on display in Berlin ever since.

This time the house is going for much more than $500, according to reports. The structure is one of the centerpieces of African American Historic & Cultural Treasures, a 700-lot, two-day sale currently being held by New York auction house Guernsey’s. Bidding on lot 584, entitled “The Rosa Parks Family Home,” opened last week and is expected to reach between $1 million to $3 million. Guernsey’s president, Arlan Ettinger, told The Art Newspaper that the auction house hopes that the winning bidder is a museum or institution that will display the house for the public.

The Free Press reported that there is a likely buyer, but they have not been identified.

Read more at Smithsonian.

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