of Muncie & Delaware County, Inc. - The Community Foundation of ...

Be part of the big picture.
Taking history on the road
What began as a dream—to transform a retired
city bus into a rolling history museum—has
become a reality, with Phase I completed and
Phase II underway.
“It is truly
a work of art,”
says Demetrius
Dee Harris, a
member of the
Freedom Bus
Committee that
is overseeing the project.
A Foundation grant of $10,000 to the Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Team defrayed the
cost of a vinyl wrap that is so durable that it
comes with a 10-year guarantee. The artwork on
the wrap depicts several heroes of the Civil
Rights Movement: Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa
Parks, Madame C.J. Walker, Muhammad Ali,
John F. Kennedy, César Chàvez and Frederick
Douglas. “We firmly believe there is no other bus
like it in the world,” says Harris.
With the exterior now finished, committee
members are turning their attention to the
design and contents of the bus’s interior. They
hope to rotate interactive displays to focus on
different aspects of civil rights history. Topics are
likely to include the equal rights efforts on behalf
of African Americans, migrant workers, women
and others. “We don’t want the displays to
become stagnant,” says Harris. “We’re concerned
about serving the entire public rather
than any single interest group. Our vision is to
take the bus to every school in Delaware County.
This will be an opportunity to help students learn
about civil rights in the broadest context.”