Ilitch helped civil rights activist Rosa Parks in her time of need by paying rent, report says
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DETROIT – According to the Sports Business Journal, in 1994 civil rights activist Rosa Parks was left vulnerable after an assault and robbery near her home in Detroit.
In an attempt to find a safe home for Parks, the article published in Sports Business Daily says Ilitch himself came to the rescue when he offered to pay Parks’ rent at the Riverfront Apartments in Detroit.
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According to NBC News, in 2004, the owners of the Riverfront Apartments agreed to let Parks live in the building rent-free for the rest of her life. Parks died the next year in 2005.
In 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Parks was arrested, and a 381-day boycott of the bus system organized by Martin Luther King Jr. ensued.
In 1957 Parks moved to Detroit where she served as secretary and receptionist to Congressman John Conyers from 1965 to 1988. And her legacy lives on through her foundation, The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute.