DETROIT, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Detroit ordered the mental-health records of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks to be made public.
Judge George C. Steeh of Federal District Court in Detroit ordered the records released in response to a request by the Detroit Free Press to investigate whether Parks authorized a 1999 lawsuit against hip-hop group OutKast for naming a song after her. Some of her family members question whether she approved of the legal action.
Parks is now 91 years old, and her doctor has said she suffers from dementia, according to court documents.
"You will in effect be hurting someone who has done so much for Americans and for persons of color. It's private. It doesn't serve anybody any good," said Dennis Archer, a former State Supreme Court justice and Detroit mayor appointed by Steeh to represent Parks.
