Rosa Parks series · tip 7675 · Finding #117
Which “Shaw College” appears in Rosa Parks’s 1971 award listing?
A February 1972 Bethel A.M.E. Church Black History Week booklet includes a retrospective honors list. One line reads “Doctorate of Humanities, Shaw College at Detroit, June 13, 1971.”
That wording points to a Detroit institution. Historic Detroit’s account of the Basso Building identifies Shaw College at Detroit as emerging after Michigan Lutheran College’s 1970 closure. Shaw University of Raleigh discussed a Detroit extension, but “there was never a formal tie”; the Detroit campus adopted the Shaw name nevertheless. An August 25, 1971 Detroit Free Press report covers Shaw’s first year in Detroit. The Basso Building occupation begins April 1976 — do not retroject it as a 1971 ceremony venue.
Limits held: the booklet asserts the degree and date; neither booklet nor building history is a diploma, commencement register, contemporary program, or independent confirmation of conferral, attendance, or presentation site. Separate from finding #114 (Kansas City Bethel 1972 speaking invitation).
LOC mss85943 leaf 13 (award list) · leaf 11 (booklet association). Craft: list entry ≠ proof of execution.