FEBRUARY 22 • 2024 | 25
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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.

