Rosa Parks House Leaves Providence and Goes Up for Auction
“ROSA PARKS, MALCOLM X, AND MICHAEL JACKSON” Guernsey???s July event brings together African American historic and cultural treasures What do the Jackson Five???s (and Michael Jackson???s) first recording contract, the Larry Richards ???A Cinema Apart??? Collection, Rosa Parks??? family home and her handwritten thoughts on the day she first met Dr. Martin Luther King, and Alex Haley???s manuscript for the Malcolm X biography (which includes many of Mr. X???s personal notes) have in common? These and hundreds of other extraordinary items are being brought to the block by Guernsey???s, the New York City-based auction house, this coming July. Largely focusing on the Civil Rights Movement, African American movies, and music, this auction will include items that are of huge cultural and historical importance.
The Gregory Reed Collection is an archive of Civil Rights documents, rare books, and African-American musical ephemera, all from the offices of the prominent African-American lawyer who counted Rosa Parks among his clients. In an extraordinary two-page document, Mrs. Parks describes the occasion she first encountered Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Astonished that so young a man could speak so eloquently, she writes ???I knew I would never forget him.??? It was only months later that this giant of a little woman refused to give up her bus seat. Jail and death threats soon followed, causing Mrs. Parks to flee northward to Detroit where, along with her husband and extensive family, she found shelter in a small, two-story wood home. Now, six decades later, that very structure (which is easily disassembled) has been the subject of an international tour extensively covered by the media. The BBC and CNN reported on the story as did the New York Times, which ran three separate articles about the historic home. Most recently exhibited as part of a symposium with the Rhode Island School of Design, this truly historic Rosa Parks family home is in the auction with much of the proceeds directly supporting the Rosa McCauley Parks Heritage.
In 1992, the estate sale of the then late author Alex Haley was??conducted.
Internationally renowned for his historic novel, Roots, the top lot in the auction proved to be Haley???s original 257 page manuscript for the Autobiography of Malcolm X (as told to Alex Haley), with many handwritten notes and edits from both Malcolm X and the author. Separately sold in the event were the ???lost chapters??? – portions of the book thought too controversial to be published. Attorney Reed was the successful bidder back then; now, more than a quarter century later, these extraordinary documents will be offered again.
Comprised of hundreds of rare film posters, window and lobby cards, actor-worn clothing and more, the unique Cinema Apart Collection, assembled by the late Larry Richards, traces the course of African American cinema throughout the 20th century, and represents an important part of American and of cinematic history. In earlier times, films starring African American actors, or ???all-black casts??? were made specifically for black audiences. These movies were not generally mainstream, and for a time their cultural significance not realized. Titles included Bronze Venus, Smiling Hate, Rhythm in a Riff, Congorilla, Two- Gun Man from Harlem, Voodoo Devil Drums, Midnight Menace, Porgy and Bess. Featuring names such as Paul Robeson, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr., Eartha Kitt, Dorothy Dandridge, and Sidney Poitier, A Cinema Apart???s significance was recognized when a portion of it was selected for inclusion in the collection of the Smithsonian Museum.
In the 1960???s, emerging, wannabe record labels were almost too numerous to count. One of the upstarts, out of Gary, Indiana, was Steeltown Records, headed by William Adams. At a performance in a junior high school gym, Adams was riveted by five young men (boys, really). From this unheralded performance sprang the Jackson Five and the then nine year old Michael Jackson. On November 21, 1967, a contract between Steel Town and the Jackson Five was worked out and signed by Joe Jackson on behalf of his sons. Agreeing to ???employ Steel Town, Inc.,??? a career began that changed the world. Consigned directly by Mr. Adams, that remarkable contract is in this!
Long considered one of Jazz??? greatest piano players, Art Tatum died at age 47. Now, more than sixty years later, his estate has honored Guernsey???s by the inclusion in this event of many of Art???s most enduring treasures. Included among these is his stunning Steinway Grand piano, and a vintage Bulova wrist watch inscribed to the pianist and given to him by none other than Frank Sinatra.
The vast majority of the approximately 700 items in this auction are being offered without minimum reserve. The Gregory Reed Collection is being sold by court order. More information on this important event can be found at www.guernseys.com. The auction house can be also reached at 212-794-2280. The auction will be held live in New York City, late July, with the location and date soon to be announced. Online bidding will take place at liveauctioneers.com and invaluable.com.
ABOUT GUERNSEY???S In its forty-third year, Guernsey???s has built a reputation as the auction house known for representing the most extraordinary properties. From the largest auction in history (the ocean liner S.S. United States) to vintage racing cars on to artwork from the Soviet Union, pre-Castro Cuban cigars and the $3 million baseball, the firm has few rivals when it comes to the presentation of wildly diverse artwork and artifacts. The John F. Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, Princess Diana, Elvis Presley, Jerry Garcia, John Coltrane, Dick Clark, Mickey Mantle and the Beatles events were all conducted by Guernsey???s. The auction house is particularly proud of its work with the Library of Congress in the preservation of the complete Rosa Parks Archive.
THE ROSA PARKS FAMILY HOME
On December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus, and sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a defining moment in the Civil Rights movement. Two years later, she fled the South and headed to Detroit, where she found refuge in this home, which belonged to her brother, Sylvester McCauley, and his family. In this house on South Deacon Street, Mrs. Parks safe from the death threats and issues with finding a place of work that would hire her that troubled her in the South ??? but still affected by racism in what she called ???the Northern promised land that wasn???t.??? After a short stint working at an inn at Hampton Institute in Virginia, Mrs. Parks headed to Detroit to be with her family. However, she had to accept the loss of a steady job to do so. ???Auntie Rosa came [to Detroit] homeless, no money. Nobody wanted Auntie Rosa. People weren???t running around trying to hire my aunt,??? says Rhea McCauley, Rosa Parks??? niece.
Mrs. Parks lived in this house with 17 other family members ??? her brother, sister-in-law, and 13 children ??? sharing three bedrooms and one bathroom, while simultaneously struggling to create a new life for herself in Detroit, where she would eventually spend the rest of her life fighting for causes she held dear. During her time living in this house, Rosa Parks would often help her family with cooking, making blueberry cobbler and baked chicken, doing what she could do pitch in return for having a roof over her head. She spent those first months in Detroit riding the bus, searching throughout the city for work, and for a long time, returning with nothing. She worked in the basement of the house, tailoring clothes, just to make some small amount of money. These were times of poverty for her.
As Yonette Joseph writes in The New York Times, the house is ???a portal to another time.??? The worn fa??ade of the house is a metaphor for the hardships that Mrs. Parks has been through. Her time here was born of difficulties, and of suffering. This house is also a reminder that Mrs. Parks??? legacy does not begin and end with one day in 1955, but that her work, and what she had to endure for her advocacy of equality and of civil rights continued throughout her life, for six decades.
??It is this house that tells the story of Mrs. Parks??? migration north ??? an experience shared by many African-Americans. Her migration provided freedom from the threats of the South, but also meant the difficulties that come with completely uprooting one???s life. And, after her move, Mrs. Parks was exposed to the racism that still existed and had to be faced, even in the North.?? ???It sort of asks us to see (Parks) outside of the South, it asks us to see northern segregation and northern inequality,??? says Jeanne Theoharis, author of ???The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks??? and professor at Brooklyn College. Despite Detroit???s attempts to be racially progressive, Mrs. Parks saw that there was still much work to be done.
For instance, in the 1970s Mrs. Parks fought for freedom for political prisoners, most notably Joann Little and Gary Tyler, who had been unfairly sentenced due to race. ??She did work involving welfare, fighting against police harassment and brutality, and advocating for equal, open housing for the races. However in the 70s, Rosa Parks also suffered many losses. She watched her husband suffer through health issues and multiple hospitalizations and eventually pass away due to cancer in 1977. Only a few short months later, Mrs. Parks lost her brother as well, also to cancer, and finally, her mother, Leona, in 1979.
Mrs. Parks eventually became a secretary in Congressman John Conyer???s offices in 1965, a position she would hold until 1988. Mrs. Parks continued to participate in rallies, protests, and other acts of activism for her entire life. ???Rosa Parks was an activist and an advocate for racial justice and social equality long before she refused to get up from the seat and long after,??? Bogues said. ???The entire arc of her life is around questions of racial justice and equality in the U.S.??? Anthony Bogues, professor of humanities and critical theory and Director of the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University.
???We could not allow artists??? voices and black voices to be silenced. We need more discussion about race in America.??? ??? Barnaby Evans, Executive Artistic Director, WaterFire Providence
In the larger scheme, the eventual abandonment and decay and disrepair the house fell into ??? like so many other homes in stricken Detroit ??? speaks to the housing crisis in Detroit. It is ironic that one of Rosa Parks??? missions while living in Detroit was to provide housing for African-Americans, ensuring they had a place to stay, something that this house provided her when she arrived in the North. In fact, Rosa Parks never owned a home during her decades of living in Detroit. Though its population is predominantly African-American, Mrs. Parks was not alone in her inability to become a homeowner in the city. African Americans in Detroit, and in cities across the country, are still living with and affected by that legacy today.
Detroit has ranked among the 10 most segregated metropolitan areas in the United States since the mid-20th century. By the early 1960s, urban renewal and highway construction destroyed 10,000 structures in Detroit, displacing over 40,000 people, 70% of whom were African-American. More recently, the housing crisis, foreclosures and demolition have swept the city, leaving more abandoned buildings and vacant lots. As it is described on the RISD website, ???the small house where Parks took shelter in the late 1950s with her brother, his wife and their 13 children is one of thousands that were slated for demolition in Detroit???s inner city. Its story reflects not only on the fate of the activist and her family well over half a century ago but on the plight of African-Americans across the country who continue to be denied access to ???the American dream??? of home ownership.???
???This humble structure has an amazing story to tell ??? about Rosa Parks and her family, about the Civil Rights Movement, about African Americans??? flight from the South to the Industrial North and the decline of Detroit???Adolf Loos once said that architecture???s most noble task is to remind us to commemorate ??? and he was thinking of tombs and monuments. Instead, this simple working class house, ruinous as it is, is just as powerful an invitation to remember, to read closely, to explore its context and to understand the web of stories that intersect there.??? ??? Dietrich Neumann, Professor of History of Art and Architecture, Brown University.
In 2016, Ms. McCauley met the artist Ryan Mendoza. He was in Detroit at the time, working on a project that explored the idea of home, and also explored the American subprime mortgage crisis. Mrs. Parks??? niece had managed to buy the house, but had no way of protecting it from demolition, as it was falling into serious disrepair. When the two met to see the house, ???the floors were dipping and the house moved ever so slightly with the wind. The back wall was patched together with the doors of the house itself.??? It was clear that if something was not done soon, the house would be lost forever.
Mr. Mendoza, through selling his own work, managed to raise the necessary amount needed to save the house. The structure was dismantled, which at first raised concerns and suspicion in the neighborhood. But it soon became a community project. Realizing the importance of saving the home, the neighbors pitched in. Describing a video taken of the dismantling, CNN reporter Atika Shubert writes that the neighbors ???sing spontaneously to the camera and recite poetry. To watch the video is to witness a eulogy from a community trying to save a forgotten piece of American history??????The house was transported from Detroit to Berlin, an amazing journey that was wholeheartedly supported by citizens of both cities.
The house was dismantled and shipped over to Europe in pieces. Once it reached Berlin, it was carefully and painstakingly reassembled by Mr. Mendoza ??? much of it by hand. A labor of love for the artist, this historic building was worth the intense labor put in, as long as it could remain intact, wherever it was in the world.
Previous to coming to America, the Rosa Parks family home was on display in the neighborhood of Wedding, Berlin, to great acclaim. Despite the house???s distinctly American history, Germans were thrilled to have Mrs. Parks??? home in their country, and school trips, tours, and events were structured around the house. The German Vice Chancellor visited, as did various accomplished and famous individuals from around the world.
Following its time in Berlin, the house then travelled back to America, where it was displayed in Providence at the WaterFire Arts Center from May 3rd to June 3rd, 2018, as ???The Rosa Parks House Project.??? WaterFire is a non-profit arts organization dedicated to projects that revitalize the city and encourage community involvement. And Mrs. Parks??? home was certainly an attraction. Many people came, from around the world, to view it where it was beautifully installed in an old salt factory in Providence.
During the time of its installation, the Rosa Parks home was the subject of a symposium run by the Rhode Island School of Design entitled Everybody???s House: a symposium on art preservation, and memory (May 2018). ???From the viewpoint of art and design, the story of the house and its history since leaving Detroit is a demonstration of the new reach of preservation and the power of creative adaptive reuse,??? says RISD Interior Architecture Department Head Liliane Wong. ???[It] raises important questions about what we as a people value and how much we are willing to put at stake to preserve those values.???
This house has been the subject of three full-length articles in the New York Times, as well as of extensive coverage from the BBC, CNN, NBC, The Guardian, and many, many more.
Included in this lot is a 12-page instructional book on how to assemble the house. Created by a group of architects, this book very clearly delineates the steps needed to erect the house.
Famed singer Patti LaBelle is also in discussion to film music video for her song ???Dear Rosa,??? using this house, directed by Charles Randolph Wright.
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This house was also the subject of an award-winning documentary entitled ???The White House??? (2017). The house is also in talks to be the subject of a documentary created by A&E.
Though it has been warmly appreciated during its time in Berlin, it is time for Mrs. Parks??? house to return home. In our current day and age, when issues of race and identity are at the forefront of the news, this house is a reminder of the legacy of racism, but also of a lifetime-long legacy of fighting for equality. With continual proof that systematic racism is still ingrained within the fabric of American culture, this house, and its journey to find a final home, should serve as something to be celebrated and to learn from. As Mrs. Parks herself said, ???Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.???