FEBRUARY 22 • 2024 | 25
J
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Jewish Community Relations
Council (JCRC/AJC) and
Rev. Richardson thought
that this group might want
to participate in the Rosa
Parks program. Rabbi Asher
Lopatin, JCRC/AJC executive
director, responded positively
and provided a dessert
buffet after the Clemons’
presentation.
As a group of more than
100 Pasteur staff, church
members and Friends of
Pasteur volunteers watched
attentively, Clemons spoke
in Park’s quiet, measured
tone. Dressed in a 1950s-era
gray suit, hat and gloves with
a vintage pocketbook, she
embodied Parks’ persona.
Clemons described the
indignity of paying bus fare
to the driver at the front of a
bus, and then having to exit
and reenter the designated
“Colored Section” at the rear.
On Dec. 1, 1955, when
there weren’t enough seats
for white passengers, the
bus driver ordered Parks
to give up her seat for a
white man. She refused and
was subsequently arrested.
A representative of the
Montgomery NAACP and a
white lawyer bailed her out of
jail. Local African Americans
then boycotted the public
bus system to end the
segregated seating policy and
enable them to be hired as
bus drivers. After 381 days,
the city agreed to change
its policies. The actual bus
involved is on display at The
Henry museum in Dearborn.
At three presentations at
Pasteur School, Clemons
described what life was like in
the segregated South. Students
asked why she did not give up
her seat on the bus and why
there were separate drinking
fountains for Black and white
individuals. “I refused to be
disrespected by anyone —
white or Black,” said Clemons/
Parks. “You did not always
have these freedoms. You can
go to any college you want if
you make good grades.”
Pasteur teachers
explained the importance
of understanding history
and the sacrifices made on
their behalf by Parks and
other civil rights heroes.
Each student received an
individual photo taken with
Clemons — a gift that evoked
smiles.
On Friday night, Clemons
spoke to members of
Congregation Shir Tikvah
and guests, including
members of Good Shepherd
Missionary Baptist Church,
who gave her a standing
ovation. During the two-day
program, Clemons reached
500 students and adults
with the story of Rosa Parks’
courage and determination to
gain equality for all.
“Clemons provides an
awareness of what life was
like. I’m proud that this
event could come to Detroit
because of Rosa’s Detroit
connection,” Cohen said.
PARKS’ DETROIT YEARS
After the Montgomery bus
boycott, both Rosa Parks and
her husband lost their jobs
and received death threats.
They moved to Hampton,
Virginia, and later to Detroit
where Parks worked for U.S.
Rep. John Conyers from
1965 to 1988. She continued
her civil rights activism and
wrote several books.
Her husband died in 1977;
and in 1981 their house
was robbed, and Parks was
injured. The late federal
Judge Damon Keith called a
longtime friend — the late Al
Taubman — asking for help
to provide safer housing for
Parks.
Taubman arranged for
Parks to move to Riverfront
Apartments in Downtown
Detroit. A diverse group
of prominent Detroiters —
African American, white,
Christian and Jewish —
subsequently helped to pay
her rent.
Taubman also provided
his plane to take Parks to the
opening of Montgomery’s
Troy University Rosa Parks
Museum in 2000. She died
in 2005 at age 92 and was
the first African American
woman to lie in state in the
U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
Friends of Pasteur board members Howard Davis and Cary Levy, who
arranged the Rosa Parks program
Friends of Pasteur board members Deborah Terrell, left, and Deborah
Manning, right, with Rabbi Asher Lopatin.