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Rev. Dr. Nicholas Hood, Sr.
Nicholas Hood, II, was born on June 21, 1923 in Terre Haute, Indiana as the last of eight children, born to Orestes and Daisy Hood. After graduating from High School, it was necessary for him to enter the hospital to have a birth deformity of the spine corrected through therapy and extensive surgery. After one year in the hospital, he enrolled at Purdue University and spent his first year wearing a steel body brace on his upper body for the purpose of supporting his spine.
Nicholas majored in Biology and Chemistry in preparation for entering Medical School. During his spare time at Purdue, Nick, as he was called by his associates, worked with the Methodist Student Group in leading singing and worship in some of the small rural churches of northern Indiana.
Volunteering in the small churches, and in working with young people in building friendships across racial lines became so important to Nick, that he decided to make this his life work, rather than becoming a physician. To this end, he was accepted by Yale University Divinity School for study of the Christian Ministry. Following graduation from Purdue University in 1945, he spent a year at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois taking liberal arts courses to make up for those subjects that were not included in the scientific studies at Purdue.
During his three years at Yale Divinity School, Nicholas Hood worked at the Dixwell Congregational Church which was located in the heart of the Afro-American community. Upon graduation in 1949, he was ordained a Congregational Minister, and accepted the position as Pastor of the Central Congregational Church of New Orleans, Louisiana. During his pastorate there, he revitalized the congregation with many new members and a completely renovated church building. Outside of the church walls, Mr. Hood was very active in the wider community through his leadership in getting the City of New Orleans to put in sewers and pave the streets in the slum areas around the church.
While in New Orleans, Rev. Hood worked with Baptist clergymen in desegregating the local public transportation system, and he served at the secretary of the founding meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1957 at the New Zion Baptist Church.
Rev. Nicholas Hood, Sr., was called to be the Senior Minister of Plymouth Congregational Church of Detroit in the fall of 1958. In early 1960, the City of Detroit leadership decided to clear all of the land where Plymouth Church was located, and it would not allow any of the existing Afro-American churches to remain in what was to become the Detroit Medical Center. Rev. Hood organized all of the small and all of the large churches that were to be removed into what he called The Fellowship of Urban Renewal Churches for the purpose of demanding that they be allowed to either remain or relocate into the newly-cleared area.
That particular City Administration refused, so at the next election, Rev. Nicholas Hood, Sr. was one of the leaders who successfully led in the defeat of the Mayor and other public officials who had denied the right of Black persons and institutions to be a part of the newly-created urban renewal development.
In 1965, Rev. Nicholas Hood, Sr. was elected as the second Black to be elected to the Detroit City Council in the history of modern Detroit, and he served in that capacity for 28 years. He remained as Senior Minister of the Church; but two other clergymen were hired by Plymouth Church to carry on the work of the Church while Rev. Hood served on the Council. In the fall of 1963, Rev. Hood, Sr. led Plymouth Church in breaking ground for the 20-acre Medical Center Court housing development. Nicholas Hood, Sr. founded this housing development for the specific purpose of providing housing for persons who had formerly lived in the area; but who had been displaced by Urban Renewal. In the past, all housing constructed in Urban Renewal Areas was only for persons with high incomes.
This development is now known as the Rev. Nicholas Hood, Sr., Medical Center Courts, and even though it has low rents, it is one of the most attractive housing developments in the City of Detroit. He also developed 22 acres of town houses, apartment and a senior-citizen's tower adjacent to Plymouth Church.
Rev. Hood was married to Dr. Elizabeth F. Hood for 42 years; but unfortunately, she was stricken fatally with cancer. Four children were born to this union, Nicholas III, Emory Marshall, Stephen Francis, and Sarah Cyprian. Both Emory and Sarah are deceased.
Early in life, Sarah suffered a stroke which left her developmentally disabled. In her honor, in 1975, her father founded and funded the Cyprian Center, Inc. This is a group of new residential facilities and a day-training program for developmentally-disabled adults costing in excess of one million dollars.
Following the Detroit riot of 1967, Rev. Nicholas Hood, Sr., led in the struggle to rebuild many of the residential buildings that had been damaged during several days of rioting and looting. In order to get jobs for Black tradesmen, he sued the Detroit Building Trades Council to force them to open up construction jobs from which minority tradesmen had been excluded because they could not join the union.
During that same period, Rev. Hood led in the rehabilitation of several large apartment buildings including the Lee Crest and the Chatham apartments on Second Street. He constructed the first new housing to be built on 12th Street, namely the Selden Court Apartments at 12th and Brainerd Street. All of these developments were non-profit corporations whose sole aim was to provide decent and sanitary housing for the minority citizens of Detroit. Rev. Hood was successful in getting financial support from the Chrysler Corporation in the development of this housing complex called the Medical Center Village, including the Senior Citizen's Tower, appropriately named, Plymouth Towers.
Rev. Hood, Sr., built a new Plymouth United Church of Christ Building on five acres of land at the corner of Warren and St. Antoine street. All of the architects, engineers, sub contractors, and laborers on this construction project were African American, and the construction was under the direct supervision of Rev. Nicholas Hood, Sr., and church member, Clarence White. The primary financing for the construction came from the sole Black bank at that time, namely Home Federal Savings Bank.
Under his direction, several young men and women have chosen to become Christian ministers, and they have been ordained by Rev. Nicholas Hood, Sr. Included in this group are the Rev. Andrew Young, Jr., Rev. Dwight Andrews, and his oldest son, Rev. Nicholas Hood III. After twenty-five years, Rev. Hood resigned as Senior Minister of Plymouth United Church of Christ, and was succeed by his son, Rev. Nicholas Hood III, who had been the assistant minister for seven years.
In 1992, Rev. Nicholas Hood, Sr. resigned from the Detroit City Council, as President Pro Tem. After retiring from the Detroit City Council, Rev. Nicholas Hood, Sr. married Doris Chenault, a retired Detroit public school principal and Wayne State University educator. They have enjoyed many years of travel abroad and sharing in the joy of being with other senior persons in Elderhostel groups throughout the United States. Our combined families of her one son, Victor Irvine, III, and my two sons, Nicholas III, and Stephen Francis, and three grandchildren, Bandon, Nathan and Noah have brought us much joy, along with our daughter-in-law, Federal Judge, Denise Page Hood.
Over the years, Rev. Nicholas Hood, Sr. was awarded honorary degrees from Purdue University, University of Chicago Divinity School, North Central College and Olivet College.
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