Yellowing court records from the arrests of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and others at the dawn of the modern civil rights era are being preserved and digitized after being discovered, folded and wrapped in rubber bands, in a courthouse box. Parks' arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which launched a young King to prominence as a civil rights leader while the Atlanta-born pastor was working at his first church in downtown Montgomery. The records being preserved include a bail document signed in black ink by King, who was arrested in March 1956 with Parks and more than 100 others on charges of boycotting the city bus system in protest of Parks' treatment. Rather than just containing the familiar names of Parks and King, Robinson said, the records include the names of lesser-known people like witnesses who saw Parks' arrest; bus boycott participants; attorneys; and those who put up bond to free people from jail. Some records and photos relating to Parks' arrest already are on display at Montgomery City Hall, and school officials sounded skeptical when first contacted about the boxful of court records, McCord said.

Source: ABC News May 20, 2018 13:06 UTC