Funeral services for Representative John Conyers Jr. will be held today, November 4th, at the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit on 7 Mile Rd.
The church also held funeral services for civil rights and music icons Rosa Parks and Aretha Franklin, respectively.
The funeral is scheduled to start at 11:00am today, but crowds are expected to be large. If you wish to attend, it is suggested that you arrive early to find parking and get into the building without interrupting the service.
A number of notable figures are expected to attend the funeral, including former President Bill Clinton, and Civil Rights Leader Jesse Jackson.
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
First elected in 1964 by a narrow margin, Conyers started his career as a staunch critic of the Vietnam War. At the time, he was one of only seven representatives who voted against the war.
He was also one of the leading figures in the establishment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday as a National Holiday. Starting his campaign for the holiday days after Dr. King’s assassination in 1968, he accomplished this goal in 1983.
Conyers was instrumental in the establishment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a National Holiday (Photo by J. Wilds/Keystone/Getty Images).
He also butted heads with then-President Ronald Reagan over his policy of “constructive engagement” with the apartheid regime in South Africa, and was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971.
Conyers Jr. was a Detroit native who graduated from the city’s own Northwestern High School. He was a Veteran, enlisting in the Army in 1950 and serving as a second lieutenant in the Korean War before being discharged in 1954.
Upon returning from Korea, Conyers enrolled at Wayne State University, earning a Bachelors degree in 1957 and a law degree in 1958. He started his political career as a legislative aide to Representative John D. Dingell Jr., who in 2009 became the longest-serving congressperson in United States’ History.
(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Conyers’ political career represents the sixth-longest tenure of any congressperson in history, and the longest ever for an African American.
He is survived by wife, Monica, and sons, John and Carl. His family remembers him as a snazzy dresser and aficionado of Jazz music. In 1987, he convinced Congress to pass a resolution designating Jazz music as a “national American treasure.”