Howard Buffett Acquires Rosa Parks Memorabilia
Howard Buffett, the son of billionaire Warren Buffet, has purchase items related to Rosa Parks for $4.5 million, according to CNN Money.
Parks, dubbed “the first lady of civil rights,” died at the age of 92 in October, 2005, leaving behind personal artifacts including her Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal, both of which have been locked up in legal battles. Buffett, a 59-year-old businessman and former politician, believes that Parks’s story is an essential part of American Civil Rights history, and it would be a crime to lock her memorabilia up in a chamber out of sight.
Buffet went on to say that he would turn over the items, which include letters, photos, and other artifacts, to an institution that would take great care of them, and ensure that they were displayed in an institution where the public could have access to them all.
Buffett added that he bought the memorabilia to honor Parks’s integrity for refusing to give up her seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. Her arrest was a central impetus for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s historic boycott of the Montgomery Bus Company to show support for her cause; the boycott lasted 381 days, until seating arrangements were handled on a first-come basis and black drivers were hired.
He said her behavior reminded him of something his late mother would have done. Susan Thompson Buffett, wife of investing legend Warren Buffet, was a singer and business person, who was also a civil rights and abortion rights activist.
