Thousands of Rosa Parks' personal items to be auctioned

Arlan Ettinger will never forget the response he got the day he took one of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks' hats to a meeting at Harlem's historic Apollo Theater.

"It was a fairly plain-looking black hat. And then I said it was Rosa Parks'. And their mouths just opened up without saying a word and tears" flowed, Ettinger said. "It was a very, very powerful moment. You could see the impact this woman has had on everyone."

Ettinger's New York City auction house, Guernsey's, has been asked by a probate court judge in Detroit to find a buyer — preferably a museum, university or other institution — for thousands of Parks' personal items.