Rosa Parks Museum — Attraction in Montgomery

It was a good visit. It's a museum that is affiliated with Troy University. It's located at their downtown campus, and was built on the site where Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on the Cleveland Avenue bus. The museum is a great memorial to the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement" as it continues to educate its visitors about the Montgomery Bus Boycott with historical artifacts and visual displays that make you feel as if you're actually witnessing history.

As you enter the main building, you'll see the sculpture of Rosa Parks on the bus bench by Erik Blome. This is also where you pay for admission to both parts of the museum. You can visit just one, but it's recommended to see both. They all start at certain time intervals, so be aware of that. You start your self-guided tour at the Children's Wing where you enter the Cleveland Avenue Time Machine. It looks like the bus that Rosa Parks was riding on the day she was arrested, only it has a robot operator. It's basically a fun trip back in time that uses special effects and movie screens to show you the events starting with the onset of enforced racial segregation in the 1800s. You'll also learn about Dred Scott, Homer Plessy, Harriett Tubman, and Henry "Box" Brown. It starts when you enter the bus at the appropriate time. We were the only ones there on a weekday. There wasn't a whole lot of guidance in this building. I didn't even know there was a second floor, so I missed that part.

We then went back to the main building for another timed exhibit. You enter a room and watch documentary footage of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Rosa Parks' arrest, as well as hear from some of the people behind the boycott using multi screens. The doors open up after the presentation, and you walk into a separate room that has a 1950's era bus similar to the Cleveland Avenue bus. The actual bus is at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn (near Detroit). What's cool is that you are witnessing the entire event (or reenactment of the bus ride) through special effects. This was the highlight of the visit.

Another door opens up so that you can enter the main exhibit area. This is where you'll see historical artifacts such as the arrest records, court documents, and police reports. You'll also see exhibits of the backlash that African Americans faced during and after the boycott as white business owners retaliated. It's brutal. You'll definitely walk away with a better understanding of life in Montgomery during that time period, and the courage that brought about the positive changes that we continue to see each and every day.

But, it doesn't stop there. You'll also see artwork exhibited in the museum. The most recent one is from Alana Enfinity. It's a beautiful exhibit that is very expressive and colorful.

It's a must see when visiting Montgomery. It's a unique experience that shouldn't be missed. I just wish there were more people there on a weekday. I think I saw one other couple the entire time I was there. I'll leave you with one other very important piece of information. There are limited free parking lots nearby. There's a parking lot on Molton Street near the School of Nursing. Don't...

This is a two-part, small, but extremely high-tech and well done museum. There's the main Rosa Parks museum on the corner with the fountain and a "time travel bus" on the opposite corner in the children's wing. The bus part is skippable but even as an adult, I really enjoyed it. It's like an amusement park ride (a VERY tame one) and it set up Rosa Park's story very well.

In the main museum, you wait in an ante-room until the next presentation cycle begins. I had to wait about 15 minutes but by the time I read everything on the walls, it was time to start. A three-screen presentation with the folks involved last maybe 5-10 minutes and lets you hear from the real voices, then the doors automatically open and you go into the next room where you see the actual even take place. It's a bus stop, there's a whole big bus there and each of the windows are screens. You see all the passengers walking around in there and can see it all play out. It's really amazing! Almost to the point where when folks would walk off the bus, it was weird not to see them actually exit the vehicle in front of me. It's just really, really cool. That part lasts for maybe 10-15 minutes, then when you hear the church music, you can open the church doors (they don't open automatically) and walk through the rest of the museum.

This part is self-guided and it's mainly a lot of reading with some video screens and plenty of full-size vignettes to look at - MLK at his kitchen table, a church wagon taking on passengers during the boycott, etc. It's all very well done and if you read everything, it will take you a while. For kids, there are kid-friendly summaries marked by a cartoon bus along the way.

I went in August during Covid, so there was only one other group on the time travel bus with me and I was the ONLY person in the museum. It's $7.50 for adults for each side of the museum, or $14 together. (Also I don't think you're supposed to take pictures in the bus or the museum but I did...

To get the full experience you need to do both tickets/museums and it's well worth it!

The Children's Wing is just the "Time Machine" show which has you sitting in a bus that shakes as it moves through time & then has Rosa Parks narrating & film both documentary & acting out scenes & experiences from slavery to Montgomery and the day Rosa Parks got arrested at different "stops". My son said he kept forgetting it wasn't real & thought he was in a real time machine.

From there you head outside & down to the Rosa Parks Museum. This experience starts with a show with real Montgomery people sharing their experiences during the Civil Rights Movement. It brings you again up to the day Rosa was arrested.

Then you go into the next room where there is a city bus with windows that are screens that continue to tell the story and you see it played out in front of you on the bus. It's very powerful & real feeling but too much for kids.

Then you walk through the museum part which has an option of calling to hear the different stops explained. It highlights different parts of the Civil Rights movement, also featuring MLK.

Our guide who introduced the show at the beginning was Rosa Parks pastor when she was alive. My son was especially impressed by this.

As far as museums go for kids this was well done & more engaging with the multi- media use. This was our touch point for experiencing the Civil Rights movement in AL and it was well done & a worthwhile stop.

Just down the street (and a reasonable walk) is the Fountain where the slave trading market use to sit and...