Rosa Parks’ belongings remain in Harlem warehouse as legal battle continues

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NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Monday, April 14, 2014, 7:42 AM

Richard Drew/ASSOCIATED PRESS Rosa Parks’ Presidential Medal of Freedom (left) and her Congressional Gold Medal are among the items up for auction.

Rosa Parks’ lifetime belongings continue to sit unsold in a Harlem warehouse.

The decades-old civil rights memorabilia, including her Presidential Medal of Freedom and a signed postcard from Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., has been up for auction since 2006.

But so far no-one has put in a bid for the astonishing collection – said to be worth between $ 8 million and $ 10 million.

AP Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus to a white man on Dec. 1, 1955, and ignited the boycott that led to a federal court ruling against segregation in public transportation.

When Parks died in 2005, aged 92, she had intended for her possessions to go to the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development.

Longtime friend Elaine Steele, who heads up the institute, told TimesFreePress.com that Parks had wanted people to see the mementos and learn from her life.

Richard Drew/ASSOCIATED PRESS Parks’ copy of the New Testament and her address book remain in a Harlem warehouse.

But they were seized by a court after her nieces and nephews challenged the document.

A judge ordered that the collection – including photographs with presidents, tributes from world leaders, school books, family Bibles, clothing and furniture – be sold all in one go.

Richard Drew/AP The civl rights actvist’s glasses and and typing textbook became a part of a years-long legal fight between Parks’ heirs and her friends, leading to the memorabilia being taken away from her home city of Detroit and offered up to the highest bidder.

They were removed from her Detroit home and offered up to the highest bidder via Guernsey’s Auctioneers.

But a serious offer is yet to be made, reports Al.com.

Richard Drew/AP A rosary that belonged to Parks is among the items her friends say she wanted to be displayed to the world.

It means the items cherished by Parks – a symbol of the movement for refusing to cede her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus to a white man – continue to languish in a warehouse.

Steele said the items’ future could finally be resolved one way or another “in the next six months,” and remains hopeful that they will one day be put on display for all to see.

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