JUNE 15 • 2023 | 55

suppose I care so much,” she 
says. “It’s confusing to me why 
that’s confusing.”

A SHARED HISTORY
Parks says it’s easy to forget 
that many different groups 
were involved in perpetuat-
ing the Holocaust. “It’s truly 
all of our history,” she says. 
“Unfortunately, hate is uni-
versal, and that’s a big thing 

that drives my motivation in 
working here.”
In 2017, Parks, an Oakland 
Township resident and moth-
er of two, started her journey 
at the Zekelman Holocaust 
Center as a volunteer docent. 
“I was getting my undergrad 
and masters and, of course, I 
was very interested in this his-
tory,” she says. 
In fact, Parks was persistent. 

She continued to call the cen-
ter until a volunteer position 
opened up for her.
After four years of volun-
teering, she joined the center 
on staff part-time in 2021 
to teach virtually during the 
pandemic when Michigan still 
had COVID-19 restrictions. 
Eventually, she transitioned 
into a full-time role as manag-
er of adult education.
“You certainly can’t walk 
through the doors and forget 
that you’re doing important 
work,” Parks says. “It can be a 
Monday and you can be tired, 
yet you walk through the doors 
and realize that work that we 
do here is so critical, which 
fuels my passion for this.”
As manager of adult educa-
tion, Parks oversees the edu-
cation for any civic, fraternal, 
religious groups, political fig-
ures, military or law enforce-
ment that visit the building.
“It’s a very large umbrella, 
but I think that’s really won-
derful because we are really 
focused on student groups 
here at the museum,” she says. 
“Students will always be our 
bread and butter, and we abso-
lutely need to educate them 
as the future, but the new 
phase the museum is moving 
into is a more holistic view of 
Holocaust education.”
This includes identifying 
ways to educate entire com-
munities about the Holocaust, 
and figuring out how that can 
translate to creating safe com-
munities for all today.
Parks is also part of the team 
writing content for new exhib-
its and the massive remodel 
that the center is undertaking, 
which is expected to continue 
through early next year.

UNCOVERING STORIES
As a longtime history fan, Parks 
has always held a deep interest 
in people.
“I like people’s stories,” she 
says. “I like learning about 

individual people and how they 
fit into the broader network of 
history.”
This made pursuing history 
studies as her career an easy 
choice. While “any self- 
respecting history fan becomes 
a professor,” she explains, 
Parks quickly learned during 
undergrad that history is only 
important when it’s not “kept in 
the ivory tower.”
“You can write articles, 
research and lecture, which are 
very important and very neces-
sary to the field, yet if nobody 
hears them, is that important?” 
Parks questions.
“For me, taking that aca-
demic history and moving it 
into a sphere that people of all 
different socioeconomic back-
grounds, interests and walks of 
life can actually learn about was 
the most rewarding.”
While Parks, who has 
taught courses for the History 
Department and Gender, 
Sexuality and Women Studies 
Program at Wayne State 
University, always wants to 
keep a foot in academia, edu-
cating a broader audience is 
what ultimately drives her.
Now, Parks is committed to 
her role as manager of adult 
education at the Zekelman 
Holocaust Center and identify-
ing ways to integrate told and 
untold women’s stories.
“You want people to be able 
to see themselves in this history 
and learn and care,” she says. 
“If a young girl walks through 
an exhibit and they don’t see 
themselves as a victim or a 
survivor, or even a perpetrator 
or collaborator, how do you do 
that?”
The key, Parks explains, is 
creating a Holocaust narrative 
that includes all voices.
“People experienced it in so 
many different ways,” she says. 
“Gender was one really big way 
that people experienced the 
Holocaust. We cannot ignore 
that anymore.” 

“I’M NOT JEWISH, WHICH FOR SOME 
PEOPLE IS CONFUSING WHY I SUPPOSE I 
CARE SO MUCH … IT’S CONFUSING TO ME 
WHY THAT’S CONFUSING.” 

— KATIE CHAKA PARKS

TOP: Chaka Parks presents a program on women in the Holocaust. 
BELOW: Chaka Parks guides a tour for local students.

