Detroit — When Rosa Parks returned to her adopted hometown of Detroit for the last time, she didn't receive the sober welcome most people expect at a funeral.
Between the clapping and hallelujahs that echoed throughout the sanctuary, the ceremony was more a rally than a solemn farewell. But that was likely the kind of tribute the famously humble "Mother Rosa" would have wanted — one that didn't focus all of its attention on her.
"She loved good preaching, and she loved good political talk," said Elaine Steele, Parks' caretaker, during the funeral. "She is smiling."
If Parks was indeed looking down from heaven, as many of the speakers suggested, there's a good chance she could hear the voices of the energetic preachers, soulful choirs and thousands of others who gathered Wednesday at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit to pay their respects to the civil rights icon.
"Clearly, Mrs. Parks was bigger than her natural family. She was bigger than her church family. She belonged to the whole world," said Bishop Charles Ellis III, pastor of Greater Grace Temple.
Dignitaries flew into Detroit from around the country, and thousands lined West Seven Mile Road outside the church in the culmination of a week of memorials usually "reserved only for war heroes and presidents," as Gov. Jennifer Granholm stated — all for a black woman who, simply and boldly, refused to leave her seat in the 11th row of a municipal bus in Montgomery, Ala., 50 years ago.
Earlier this week, Parks became the first woman to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. That recognition was bestowed by Congress with the help of U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., and U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., who were in attendance Wednesday with a congressional delegation so large that two planes had to be chartered from Washington, D.C.
The mood inside the sanctuary was hardly that of mourning. Those gathered were vocal and even jovial — former President Bill Clinton received a raucous welcome.
Outside, many members of the public were eventually turned away when the more than 4,000-seat sanctuary was filled. Some onlookers had no intention of even trying to get into the funeral but said they wanted to honor Parks' memory anyway.
"It's a good feeling; I'm so proud just to be here," Joann Goree, a Detroit resident said from her vantage point across the street from the church. "If it weren't for her, we wouldn't be where we're at."
Shayla Weston, who teaches special needs classes at Taft Middle School in Detroit, brought 27 students out to watch the procession and let her daughter Kyla miss school to attend.
"Just to be here and see this is a monumental opportunity and probably the greatest field trip they'll ever take," Weston said.
For those who knew Parks best — her family — it was a more sorrowful occasion. Family members dabbed their eyes with tissue as they said their goodbyes before Parks' coffin, while the rest of the congregation swayed in unison and sang "We Shall Overcome."
Charles G. Adams, pastor of Hartford Memorial Baptist Church, threw the assembly into a frenzy with a fiery invocation, mixing preaching, politics and Parks' story in a rising, rhythmic yell. He thanked God in a multitude of languages, from Spanish to sign language.
The not-so-subtle political undertones permeated the service, with issues such as the war in Iraq, affirmative action and voter's rights creeping to the surface. Several speakers used their platform to encourage the congregation to turn out to the polls on Nov. 8.
Before making an early exit to fulfill another commitment in New York City, Clinton related his memories as a 9-year-old southern boy who rode a segregated bus everyday when Parks' took her historic stand.
"Rosa showed us that black folks didn't have to sit in the back anymore," Clinton said. "Two of my friends and I, who strongly approved of what Rosa had done, decided we didn't have to sit in the front anymore.
"Now that she has gone home and left us behind, let us never forget that in that single act, and in a lifetime of grace and dignity, she let us know what it was to be free."
Clinton's message was echoed by the dozens of speakers — including the Rev. Al Sharpton, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, and Bill Ford Jr., Ford Motor Co. chairman — who followed him at the pulpit. Nearly six hours after the funeral began, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, aided by singing of Aretha Franklin and the cries of the still-enthusiastic congregation, shouted for Parks to "fly away."
Later, police escorted a horse-drawn carriage bearing Parks' remains through a throng of onlookers toward her final stop at Woodlawn Cemetery, 19975 Woodward Ave., in Detroit. The procession pulled away from the church, and after a week of farewells spanning thousands of miles and stopping in three cities, the mother of the civil rights movement was gone.
Bob Darrow can be reached at darrowro@msu.edu. Jacqueline WayneGuite can be reached at waynegui@msu.edu.
