Rare photographs donated to Rosa Parks Museum

Rare photographs depicting Rosa Parks during the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March have found a permanent place at Troy University’s Rosa Parks Museum, giving visitors a new look into the icon’s life of activism. 

The images, captured by photojournalist Matt Herron, show Parks at the march on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama. These scenes, largely unseen by the public until now, showcase Parks beyond her 1955 bus protest.  

University Relations photo

Dr. Jeannine Herron, Donna Beisel and Montgomery NAACP President Isaiah Sankey stand in front of a rare photo.

“The images people generally associate with her are usually from 1955 to 1956 during the Montgomery Bus Boycott,” said Director of Museum Operations Donna Beisel. “These photos show that her activism continued well after the boycott ended. 

“They do not know that she had about 20 years of activist work before her arrest and about another 50 years after.” 

Beisel also noted the importance of preserving visual history as firsthand witnesses to the civil rights movement grow fewer. 

“As we get further from these events, the people who lived through these experiences get fewer and fewer,” Beisel said. “The photos allow us to preserve their stories, and they show the accurate history of what happened as opposed to oral accounts that are often argued or denied.” 

University Relations photo

A rare photo of Parks is displayed in the museum.

Herron’s widow, Jeannine Herron, donated the photographs during a December reception showcasing the museum’s latest exhibit, “Rosa Parks: A life of Being Rebellious.” At the event, Herron said her husband would be proud to have his work displayed in a setting honoring Parks’ legacy. 

“I just want to say that my husband Matt would be very pleased with this event and with your acceptance of his photographs,” Herron said. “He was a storyteller, and he loved to tell the story of real people.”  

Beisel said she hopes the exhibit will allow visitors to connect more personally with Parks’ legacy. 

“For me on a personal level, I think it’s just that one person’s voice can make a difference,” Beisel said. “In terms of Mrs. Parks’ legacy, it’s that she never backed down in her fight for equality and equity for all people.” 

The exhibit will be on display for 382 days, the same length of time as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and is intended to offer visitors an early look at a planned permanent exhibit that will include a large portion of Mrs. Parks’ personal materials from the Library of Congress.