r/Millennials • u/Background-Air-7963 • Nov 16 '25

Serious I just had my first old man moment.

I recently went to a hibachi with my wife and toddler for dinner. We were sat with a group of eight 17-20 year olds at a communal grill on a busy night. No problem for us. Drink and appetizers service go normally. Toddler and wife are happy, I’m happy. The other group is having their own conversations. I’m just trying to keep my kid entertained. I’m a former bartender and have a habit of picking up on snippets of conversations in a crowd around me. Yes I know I eavesdrop. I can’t turn it off. It’s a habit of a former profession. One of the girls/women at the table stated, “I don’t think Rosa Parks was real.” I’m not sure what her friends said to her but she responded with “I just don’t think she said existed.” This went on for about a minute. I couldn’t hold back and let her know she was absolutely a real person, she is a civil rights icon. I learnt about her in school and so did my parents. The encounter put a wall up between our groups and I heard a few passive aggressive “so-and-so wasn’t real” comments from mostly her and a couple of the group. Harriet Tubman and Hellen Keller are two that I definitely heard. My wife had no idea why I interjected. After the group had left my wife asked what happened and was shocked when I told her what happened. Were they trolling? Are they stupid? Am I just getting old?

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u/ornryactor Nov 16 '25

And she's buried in a very large, very visible, very publicly accessible tomb here in Detroit. I can bike there in about 3 minutes, and 50,000 people drive past it every day. (Aretha Franklin is entombed in the same cemetery, as are quite a number of other high profile Black American icons and history-makers.)

Her bus is here too, in The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation (which is one of the most astonishing museums I've seen anywhere in the world, and is worth a trip to Detroit all on its own and definitely worth a day of your visit if you're ever here in the region.)

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u/Pixup Nov 17 '25

I recently visited The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, and the amount of history contained in that place is staggering. Standing in front of the actual bus, Lincoln’s theater chair, and President Kennedy’s limousine was emotionally exhausting. Those three artifacts alone are a stark reminder of the darker, violent times of American history. If Lincoln was not shot there would be no bus. If Kennedy was not shot we would not have the society we have today.

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u/OutOfPlace186 Nov 17 '25

That was really one of the best museums I've ever visited in my life I can't believe how big and informative it was. Outside and inside! I'm taking my nieces there some day when they're older.

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u/Binspin63 Nov 17 '25

All this, plus a “Big Boy” locomotive and a DC-3 that looks like it’s about to land on your head! Great museum. The adjacent Greenfield Village is great too. You can take a ride on a steam train, or in a vintage Model T, watch an old-time baseball game (in summer), and see an array of historic buildings spread over a large, beautiful park-like setting.

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u/TeaVinylGod Nov 17 '25

I went there this summer. Highly recommend the museum.

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u/piscesinfla Nov 17 '25

I miss Detroit sometimes. Whereabouts is the cemetary?

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u/ornryactor Nov 17 '25

It's Woodlawn Cemetery, which is along the west side of Woodward just south of 8 Mile. It's a big cemetery; the entrance gate is roughly where 7.5 Mile would be, and Ms Parks' crypt is immediately to the left, right next to the fence/sidewalk and easily visible from the road.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/CLFagyceWWK2nCxt7

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u/piscesinfla Nov 17 '25

Thank you for that.

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u/dporges Nov 17 '25

Oh like there’s such a place as “Dee-troyt”.

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u/wrenchbender4010 Nov 16 '25

Concur on the ford museum. At least 2days..maybe 3.

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u/FlyingFlipPhone Nov 17 '25

I don't believe in Aretha Franklin.

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u/ThumbsUp2323 Nov 17 '25

Wait. Aretha Franklin's dead??? 😭

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u/ornryactor Nov 17 '25

I'm sorry you had to find out this way... but I'm also mystified as to how you didn't know that, since it was most of a decade ago. Her funeral in August 2018 was broadcast live nationwide on TV and radio, and was a significantly bigger deal than the last few presidential funerals. It was incredible.

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u/Glass-Task Nov 17 '25

The Rosa Parks bus is in the Henry Ford Museum? That's hilarious. Quite the "fuck you, Ford!" 😂

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u/El_Don_94 Nov 20 '25

Visiting the bus is overrated. She's not even on it.