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Smithsonian’s Rosa Parks exhibition stops in St. Cloud

An exhibit of photographs, political cartoons, contemporary writings and other images about Rosa Parks and her stand against racism opens this weekend in St. Cloud.

"381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott" is a traveling exhibition created by the Smithsonian Institution and Troy University Rosa Parks Library and Museum. It opens Saturday at the Stearns History Museum and runs through April 14.

The story of Parks and her refusal to move to the back of a bus is one of the enduring legends of the civil rights movement. Her ensuing court case and a boycott of the bus system in Montgomery were among the defining moments in the long battle for equal rights in the South.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested during the boycott, helping him emerge as a leading national civil rights advocate.

St. Cloud, which has struggled with racial problems, is the only Minnesota stop for the exhibit. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found in 2002 that St. Cloud State University faculty and staff believed that systemic sexism, racism and anti-Semitism exist and that the university is a difficult place for anyone who has a perspective outside of "mainstream white, Christian thinking."

The Stearns History Museum is at 235 S. 33rd Ave. in St. Cloud. ($2 to $5). There's a special AARP reception from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday (Jan. 31). Call toll-free 866-253-8424 or go here.