b"PROFILEYoung Gifted Funeral Director on the Movebe shipped back home. By Sheila Smith During Jim Crow, Black funeral businesses began thrivingasfamiliesreliedonthemtogivetheir decease family member a respectful burial.Y ou dont find many young people who see theirBlackchurchesformedBurialSocietiesthat calling from God is preparing the deceased. assisted congregations in planning funeral services.I started seeing it as my calling from God as GodTherefore,Blackfuneraldirectorshavebeenin calls those into the ministry. I think he calls peoplethe forefront of the Black community from preparing to take care of the deceased as well, says 28-yearthose bodies lynched, beaten to death and filled with old Jeremy Harris. bullet holes.Harris is the owner of Harris Funeral Directors inFuneralshaveprovidedasenseofcomfortand Aurora, Colo., which he started a year ago. gathering to say good-bye to those loved ones who HegrewupinMemphis,Tenn.butmovedtohave passed on, whether from violence with Black Colorado three years ago upon taking a job as gen- on Black crime, crimes against Blacks as weve seen eral manager with Romero Family Funeral Home. with George Floyd, Brianna Taylor and others.He then set his sight on owning his own mortuaryJeremy Harris I like being with the people. I like walking with business that catered to the Black community. the people. I am not just sitting around waiting on Asalicensedfuneraldirectorandmortician,death, states Harris.Harris goes through the arrangement process to theand she would get upset. She would say, Stop put- This past Election Day, Harris had a special event embalming process and cosmetic preparation of theting all those holes in my backyard. called Ride to the Polls where he provided rides for bodymakeup, hair, etc. After Harris graduated from high school, he wentresidents in Park Hill and Denver Metro areas to get I over see it all (with my staff helping), he claimsstraight to mortuary school and got his license. Heto voting polls to cast their votes.as a lot of his competitors in the funeral home busi- followedhisdreambyworkingatvariousfamilyOn Christmas Day, Harris partnered with the city ness are not licensed to do everything.ownedmortuariesinTennesseebeforecomingtoof Aurora in a toy drive.So why the interest in being a mortician, explainsColorado and branching out on his own. Before Thanksgiving, Harris and others gave out Harris began in the church.Ibelieveincommunityengagement,expresses500 cooked meals and 1,000 turkeys.My grandparents raised me. At a young age I wasHarris who remembers the oldest black businessesOn Thanksgiving Day, Harris went down to Civic exposed to going to church and singing at funerals.in the communities were barber shops and funeralCenter Park in the downtown area of Denver to help My grandmother was president of the Usher Boardhomes. feed the homeless.at Faith Temple Church of God and Christ, underFuneraldirectorsalwayshadawayofbeingaHarris also continues partnering with churches in Bishop Andrew Jackson. So I was curious and hadsteeple in the communitykind of like the beacongiving clothing and other commodities to people in a passion about the process, from the funeral, theof light in the community. If you needed anything orneed.casket to what was inside the hearse. a child needed school supplies, even the holidays,Congregations that dont necessarily have a build-Then I found myself going home and reenactingthey helped. But fast forward today and it has goting are allowed to use Harriss funeral home facility with my toys the funeral process.I would bury myaway from that traditional act of service with funeraltohaveworshipservicesonSundays,whichthe toys in the backyard in my grandmothers flower beddirectors in the community. It seems now it is justrequests for a time slot on Sunday has quickly filled about death. up. But the one thing Harris wants people to realize Historically,Blackfuneralshavealwaysbeenandemphasizesis,IamBlack-ownedandoper-elaborate,livelyprocessionsofprayerandgospelated.songscelebratingthedeceasedreturningtotheir Historically, Black funerals haveheavenly roots.Harris Funeral Directors is located at 16738 always been elaborate, livelyAsfarbackastheCivilWarandafterslavery,E. Iliff Ave, off Buckley and Iliff in Aurora, Colo. Blacksoldiersandcivilianswereresponsiblefor For more information on the services the funeral processions of prayer and gospelremoving the dead from battlefields, digging graveshomeprovidescall303-618-9266.Websiteis and maintaining the cemeteries. They assisted mili-tary doctors in embalming to preserve the bodies toharrisfuneraldirectors.comJean Baptiste DuSable (1745-1818)Matthew Henson (1866-1955) J ean DuSable's father was a French pirate who had stolen his mother from theM atthew Henson was an slavery of a Danish plantation on the island of St. Croix. His mother married theexperiencedtraveler. man who rescued her and Jean DuSable was born to them in Haiti in 1745.He had begun his career as DuSable was sent to school in France when he was ten years old. Returning toa cabin boy on a ship sailing Haiti as a young man, he worked several years for his father who had become ato China. Later he sailed to dealer in coffee, hard woods and other island products, and then decided to seekAsia, Africa, Europe and the his fortune in Louisiana. He did not stay long in Louisiana because his color madeSouth Pacific Islands.him constantly suspect of being a runaway slave.Hensontraveledto DuSable went to St. Louis and lived for a time with the Illinois Indians. Later hethetopoftheworldwith moved on to the shores of the Great Lakes whereAdmiralRobertPearybut he married a beautiful Indian girl named Kittihawa,thefirstfourexpeditions meaning Fleet-of-Foot. In 1772 DuSable, his wifefailedtoreachtheirgoal, theNorthPole.Illnessand and son settled on a point of portage between the southern end of Lake Michigan and the riversevere hardship had doomed their ventures. In February where many travelers passed on their way to and1909,thegroupleftCapeSheridan,Greenland,and from Canada. This unsettled wilderness area was headed for the point that previously had defeated them called by the neighboring Indians Eschikagou orso many times. By April, most of the group were ill or suf-simplyChikagou.HereDuSablebuiltathrivingfering from snowblindness and unable to go on. Finally, tradingpost on the site of what is now the greatwith Peary ill also, Henson was the only member of the city of Chicago. party able to continue. In 1800 DuSable sold his interests in ChicagoOn April 6, he set out alone and completed the sixty andsettleddowntoretirementinSt.CharlesmileslefttoreachtheNorthPole. Thereheplacedan Missouri where his son lived. He died in 1818 andAmerican flag and stood with pride where no man had is buried in St. Charles Borromeo Cemetery. stood before him.BODY OF CHRIST NEWS FEBRUARY 2021 15"