When civil rights activist Rosa Parks died in 2005 at the age of 92, she left most of her estate to the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development. However, her 13 nieces and nephews (Parks never had any children) contested the will and a settlement was finally reached in February 2007. Part of the settlement includes selling many of Parks' possessions and then splitting the proceeds between the Institute and the relatives.
The court asked that Guernsey's auction house to place Parks' collection, estimated at $10 million, up for sale. Items that will be up for auction include the hat Parks wore on December 1, 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus, a postcard from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. written to Parks, handwritten notes about her childhood, and the chiffon dress she wore when accepting the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton.
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