The Montgomery Housing Authority held an event Thursday to remember civil rights icon Rosa Parks.
The inaugural event was held at Parks Place Housing Community, which was renamed for Parks. Parks, her husband Raymond, and her mother, Leona, lived and were former residents of the house community in 1955.
“We’re here to celebrate, but we’re also here to talk about the future,” Dr. John Knight, Jr., Chairman of the MHA Board of Commissioners, said. “This is an example of what happened many years ago, but we want to bring to the table from the Housing Authority working with the mayor’s office, the county, the state, federal government as well. What Montgomery is all about in terms of Choice Neighborhoods, building homes so that people will have decent and safe places to live. “
Knight said MHA’sgoal was to bring organizations and officials together to highlight the city’s housing availability.
As a part of the event, MHA gave guided tours of Parks’ former home, Unit #634. The Parks Place administrative building was also on tour and featured a mural dedicated to Parks.
MHA partnered with the Alabama Archives and History Museum and the team at Alabama Graphics to design and install the mural in the main lobby late last year.