PROVIDENCE – WaterFire Providence will open its doors this weekend in an effort to allow more of the public to view a reconstructed home once belonging to the family of famed civil rights activist Rosa Parks, the “Rosa Parks House Project,” which is currently on exhibit at the Providence-based nonprofit arts space.
The hours are from 11:30 a.m. Saturday to 6:30 p.m. and noon until 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Panel and community discussions will be held at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Their focuses include “A House, a Home, a Story: Oral Histories, Family Memories, Narrative Arc and Identity;” “The House in Art and Memory: History, Narrative, Place and the Act of Remembrance;” and “African American History and its Telling: Still Contested Ground.”
In addition, a concert will be held at 4:00 p.m. Saturday in honor of Parks at which the home’s artist, Ryan Mendoza, will speak as well as Parks’ niece Rhea McCauley.
A screening of “The White House” – a 67-minute film by Fabia Mendoza chronicling the purchase and removal of the home – will be held Thursday, March 29 at 6:00 p.m.
The extended schedule was funded in part by grants from the R.I. Council on the Humanities and the R.I. State Council on the Arts. However, additional funds are needed to further continue display of the home in Providence and interested parties are asked to contact WaterFire directly.
The Detroit home, purchased by Mendoza in 2016, was owned by Parks’ brother Sylvester McCauley. It was dismantled by Mendoza and shipped it to his Berlin, Germany home where it waited to be displayed in the U.S. Mendoza contacted Brown University’s Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice to display the structure as the focal point of a larger exhibit planned by the department and expected to open April 3.
The extension of the exhibit comes after the home’s display was the center of controversy earlier this month. On March 8, Brown announced the cancellation of the exhibit, which Mendoza said was done without contacting him.
In an interview with the Providence Business News on March 8, Mendoza cited support from various governmental and academic groups saying: “Everybody is dedicated to this project except for Brown [administration].”
The Wednesday release from WaterFire said the arts organization had worked with Mendoza to secure the extended timeline in reaction to “much interest from the community.”
While all events are free and open to the public, WaterFire has requested those interested in attending register so they may know how many people to expect.
The university said previously that an educational exhibit will still take place on the school’s College Hill campus, without the house.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, gowdey-backus@pbn.com.
