Built in honor of the courageous Rosa Parks, the Rosa Parks Museum is a memento of the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event that made a big impact on upholding Civil Rights which started in 1955.

As a policy, seats on public buses at that time were segregated so that the ?whites? can seat separated from the ?blacks?. However, on December 1, 1955, everything started to change. Mrs. Parks boarded a bus and sat on a whites only section and left a white man standing. The driver demanded that she yield her seat to the standing white man but she refused. The driver contacted the police and got Mrs. Parks arrested. Four days later she was found guilty of disorderly conduct. This event stirred up the Montgomery Bus Boycott where African-American bus patrons walked, set up carpools or found any other means of transportation. The boycott was successful and after over a year Mrs. Parks took a bus ride again and was able to sit on any vacant seat.

Standing on the same site where Mrs. Parks, the nationally acclaimed ?Mother of the Civil Rights Movement? was arrested, the Rosa Parks Museum is owned by the Troy University. The Museum has documents, artifacts and gallery about the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It holds exhibit and features a time machine, temporary exhibit space, archives, classrooms, an auditorium and a conference room. To make the museum appealing to the youth visitors can also enjoy the Children?s Wing where they can ride a standard 1955 Montgomery city bus but will be surprised that it is actually set up like a time machine that appears to be floating above a layer of violet-colored light with special lighting effects.