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Barbara Herard said calls about Parks' passing flooded U.S. Rep. John Conyers' Detroit office Tuesday. "One man called us and said, 'All of our leaders our dying.' He felt kind of helpless," she said.Influence links generations
Her inspirational strength touched lives over decades
Christopher Carswell, now 40, was one of the first recipients of a Rosa Parks college scholarship. He felt overwhelmed shaking her hand.
U-M Dearborn Associate Professor Gloria House, 64, met Parks while in her 30s and said the civil rights legend became a role model for her.
Geri Alumit Zeldes, an assistant journalism professor at Michigan State, had her students interview their peers about Parks' passing.
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From young children to public officials, Rosa Parks and her public defiance of Jim Crow laws helped shape the lives of countless people:
The young lawyer who represented Rosa Parks during her jaunt into history said she never had misgivings about taking on such powerful forces.
Fred Gray Sr., 74, who continues to practice law, worked a block-and-a-half away from Parks in Montgomery, Ala., and ate lunch with her nearly every day for a year.
During those meals, she talked often of the need for civil rights, especially for the youth growing up amid segregation.
"She was willing to take a stand, even if it meant paying a price," Gray said. "And it did."
Gray was referring to the death threats against Parks and the loss of her job as a seamstress.
But the impact of Parks' deed continues to reverberate through American consciousness, even after half a century, Gray said.
"A pebble cast in the segregated waters created a human rights tidal wave that changed America," he said.
It helped drive civil rights leaders and battlers who followed, he said. He was among them.
In 2002, he became the first black president of the state bar in Alabama.
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Future Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer was in the ninth grade in Cassopolis, Mich. -- population 1,500 -- when he learned about the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Parks' act of defiance from a small black and white television.
He had only been as far away as Chicago and Detroit, the city of his birth.
"Her simple of act of not getting up inspired me," said Archer, who is a former president of the American Bar Association who spoke out about the treatment of U.S. military detainees.
When he saw her as mayor, Archer was amazed at how many people came up to Parks just to talk.
"She didn't live her life as a celebrity."
Countless Detroiters introduced their children or relatives to Parks at events or church and she always had time for them, Archer said.
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Parks' mix of gentleness and strength was a model for Gloria House.
In her early 30s, House was teaching at Wayne State and was a community activist in Detroit. She met Parks through her husband, who worked for Rep. John Conyers alongside Parks.
"For both of us, she really epitomized all that we felt the movement was about," said House, 64, who is now an associate professor of humanities and African American Studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
"This kind of character was something I could aspire to. There was a way to struggle that allowed you to continue to be a loving human being."
Parks often came to the family's home for dinner, and House said that the civil rights pioneer "exuded love." Over the dinner table, House said she and Parks would talk about community issues and Parks would often raise questions that House hadn't considered.
"There was a kind of wisdom in everything she did," House said. "She was quiet and gentle ... but you realized there was this incredible strength of conviction.
"We cherish that spirit and we will miss it terribly."
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Geri Alumit Zeldes still remembers the case of goose bumps she got when was in the same room as Parks more than 15 years ago.
Zeldes was a one of a group of high school seniors that were plucked for a $2,500 scholarship from the Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation, which has been giving out the awards for 25 years. Parks attended the awards reception.
"I just remember sitting in the room and there was this courageous woman sitting there," said the 34-year-old Novi resident. "I had chills. It was amazing to be in the same room with someone who had done so much."
Zeldes, now an assistant journalism professor at Michigan State University, used Tuesday to share her experience with her students and send them out across campus to interview others on Parks' passing.
"She had to think quickly," Zeldes said. "It takes a lot of courage to stand up to somebody with power. I don't know many people who could do that at the time."
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Barbara Herard fielded many of the nearly 100 calls Tuesday that came into U.S. Rep. John Conyers' Detroit office Tuesday from those wanting to know more about how Parks would be remembered in the coming days
It's the same office where Parks' worked as an assistant for Conyers for more than 20 years.
"Mostly they wanted to talk," said Herard, a congressional aide. "One man called us and said, 'All of our leaders our dying.' He felt kind of helpless."
Herard didn't work with Parks but said the civil right pioneer's life and now her death have had a great impact on her and other African-Americans. She hopes that with Parks' death that people realize there is more work to be done, particularly in making sure all people have access to education.
"It reawakens in all of us the great need," Herard. "Her life made me know that we had to carry the torch. Every generation is obligated to carry the torch on to the next generation."
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It was Christopher Carswell's first public speaking gig, but it wasn't the crowd that made him so nervous.
It was shaking legend Rosa Parks' hand that overwhelmed him at the awards ceremony for her college scholarship foundation.
"What do you say?" Carswell said. "She is the link to Martin Luther King Jr. I fully recognize that she and he represented the advances African-Americans had made."
Carswell, who was among one of the first groups of high school seniors to receive the college grants, had been invited back in his mid-20s to speak to new recipients. Now 40, Carswell is a real estate developer in Metro Detroit and believes receiving the scholarship in Parks' name opened many doors for him.
After receiving the grant as a high school senior, he connected with Ford Motor Co., where he started a summer internship. He went on to work there for close to 20 years in engineering and management until leaving to start his own real estate company.
Now he works to raise money for the scholarship foundation so other students are given the same opportunities and wants to do more in Parks' name.
"She epitomized to me what strength is all about," Carswell said. "When you have true strength, you are able to manage your emotions and your behavior when the situation dictates otherwise."
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