Hail and farewell to Rosa Parks: 1913-2005

SINGERS, politicians, preachers, civil rights leaders and just plain folks gathered in Detroit to pay their last respects to a woman who became an icon for equality after taking a courageous stand that would forever change America.

More than 4,000 mourners gathered at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit to say goodbye and thank you to Rosa Parks, who died in Detroit last October at age 92.

Some 50 years after she sparked the Civil Rights Movement in 1955 by refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus to a White man, her actions continue to captivate the nation and the world.

The funeral, which stretched well past its three-hour scheduled time, followed a week of remembrances during which Parks' coffin was brought from Detroit to Montgomery to Washington, D.C., where she became the first woman, and the second Black to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.

Former President Bill Clinton, who presented Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996, was the first speaker at the funeral. He said Parks' "single simple act of dignity and courage struck a lethal blow to the foundations of legal bigotry ... Let us not forget [Rosa's] simple act, in a lifetime of grace and dignity. She made us see, and agree, that everyone should be free."

The Rev. Al Sharpton challenged Blacks to make the country better, like Rosa Parks did all her life. "Make a Rosa resolution ...," he said. "She is not in history because she made some movie or sang some song. Rosa Parks is in history because she made this nation deal with changing its laws and policies unlike anyone else."

Outside the church, the line to get one of the 2,000 seats available to the public extended for blocks. Those in the audience held hands and sang the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome" as family members filed past her casket before it was closed.

"The woman we honor today held no public office, she wasn't a wealthy woman, didn't appear in the society pages," U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) told the gathering. "And yet when the history of this country is written, it is this small, quiet woman whose name will be remembered long after the names of senators and presidents have been forgotten."

At the funeral, the Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke directly to Parks, saying, "You're going back to the bigness in the sky ... Stop by and tell Dr. King [hello] ... I know you'll get there because you have a prepaid ticket."

Between speakers, mezzo-soprano Brenda Jackson sang a soaring version of the "Lord's Prayer," while Aretha Franklin brought many to tears as she sang "The Impossible Dream" and "I'll Fly Away."

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, not yet born when Parks took her famous stand in Montgomery, was one of many who attributed their success to the doors Parks opened. Because Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus "a little chubby kid on the Westside of Detroit grew to believe he could be anything he wanted to be" he said. "Thank you for sacrificing for us. Thank you for praying when we were too cool and too cute to pray for ourselves ... Thank you for allowing us to step on your mighty shoulders."

Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan said Parks sacrificed mightily for Blacks. "She denied herself comfort," he said. "After denying herself, she picked up a cross. Not a cross that you wear in your ear or wear around your neck, but a cross that represents rejection ... being falsely accused."

After the funeral service, a horse-drawn carriage carried Parks' flag-draped coffin part of the way from the church to her final resting place at Woodlawn Cemetery. As the procession made its way through the streets of Detroit, thousands of onlookers waved flags, held banners, cried and said their final words of respect to Parks. At the cemetery, 152 white doves were released, amid a 21-gun salute.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning