[Rosa Parks' home] on South Deacon Street had become blighted and faced demolition in recent years, but its fortunes have since changed. The home’s facade has been removed and will be refashioned into a replica-style artwork that will be shown in museums across Europe...“She loved the city, but I don't think the city loved her very much back,” [Parks' niece Rhea] McCauley said. “This house should have been preserved here. But we live in a world where every other project takes precedence.” — Detroit Free Press
You would think that the Detroit home of Rosa Parks would have more easily garnered local support for its preservation in the present day. But as Parks' niece Rhea McCauley described, her aunt was still treated with hostility when she moved into the city in 1957, two years after she refused to give up her bus seat. That attitude seems to have carried on as McCauley struggled to find a backer to preserve the home, saying that “Doors have been slammed in [her] face”.
Luckily, McCauley was able to get help from artist Ryan Mendoza, who will transform the house's facade into a replica-style art piece that will tour museums across Europe. Why Europe? Mendoza, who acknowledged that he isn't even from Detroit, says it's “a statement about the lack of interest in preserving the home in the city where it actually existed”.
h/t Quartz
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