Civil Rights Icon’s Eyeglasses Headed for Library of Congress

The glasses are among items belonging to the late Rosa Parks.

From her Presidential Medal of Freedom to hundreds of paper scrap notes she stuffed in her purse, a massive collection of memorabilia related to the life and career of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks is headed to the Library of Congress. Among the items are the eyeglasses used by Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Alabama in 1955 helped spark the modern-day civil rights movement. Following Parks’ death in 2005, New York City auctioneer Arlan Ettinger spent more than eight years trying to find a buyer for the collection, which was finally purchased last month by the Howard Buffett Foundation (yes, Warren’s son) and will be loaned to the Library of Congress.

Read more and see images at USA Today