2008 Woodie Awards
Thousands pay respects to Rosa Parks in Detroit
Associated Press
Issue date: 11/2/05 Section: State and Nation
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DETROIT (AP) - Rosa Parks' body has returned to the city she called home, with thousands waiting in a line more than a quarter-mile long to pay their final respects to the late civil rights leader. Parks was 92 when she died Oct. 24 in Detroit. She lay in honor in Montgomery, Ala., and in Washington before her body was returned Monday night to the city where she had lived since 1957.
Her mahogany casket was flown from Washington to Detroit, where it was carried into the rotunda of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History for round-the-clock viewing through early Wednesday.
By the time the museum doors opened Monday night, thousands were lined up outside. As rain began to fall steadily, umbrellas sprouted and some members of the crowd began singing "We Shall Overcome."
Tony Dotson, 43, a maintenance worker from Detroit, stood near the front of the line Monday night and said he wanted to pay honor to Parks.
"I appreciate what a blessing she was, and I'm thankful she was right here in Detroit and we didn't have to travel far to see her."
Deborah Lee Horne, 56, of Detroit, said she was encouraged by the sight of so many children and teenagers waiting. "I think what she did needs to be highlighted for young people," she said. "If not, they have no idea."
Viewing was to continue until 5 a.m. Wednesday, with Parks' funeral to be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Greater Grace Temple Church. Former President Clinton and singer Aretha Franklin were scheduled to attend.
In a three-hour memorial service Monday at historic Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in Washington, Parks was remembered for the example she set with a simple act of defiance: refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus on Dec. 1, 1955.
Oprah Winfrey, who was born in Mississippi during segregation, said Parks' stand "changed the trajectory of my life and the lives of so many other people in the world."
Parks' memorial brought together leaders of both political parties, from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.
Her mahogany casket was flown from Washington to Detroit, where it was carried into the rotunda of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History for round-the-clock viewing through early Wednesday.
By the time the museum doors opened Monday night, thousands were lined up outside. As rain began to fall steadily, umbrellas sprouted and some members of the crowd began singing "We Shall Overcome."
Tony Dotson, 43, a maintenance worker from Detroit, stood near the front of the line Monday night and said he wanted to pay honor to Parks.
"I appreciate what a blessing she was, and I'm thankful she was right here in Detroit and we didn't have to travel far to see her."
Deborah Lee Horne, 56, of Detroit, said she was encouraged by the sight of so many children and teenagers waiting. "I think what she did needs to be highlighted for young people," she said. "If not, they have no idea."
Viewing was to continue until 5 a.m. Wednesday, with Parks' funeral to be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Greater Grace Temple Church. Former President Clinton and singer Aretha Franklin were scheduled to attend.
In a three-hour memorial service Monday at historic Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in Washington, Parks was remembered for the example she set with a simple act of defiance: refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus on Dec. 1, 1955.
Oprah Winfrey, who was born in Mississippi during segregation, said Parks' stand "changed the trajectory of my life and the lives of so many other people in the world."
Parks' memorial brought together leaders of both political parties, from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.
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