Civil/ human rights activist and academic. She was one of the heroes of Atlanta's student-led civil rights movement. Pope is best remembered as the author of "An Appeal for Human Rights" while the president of the student government at Spelman College during the 1960s Atlanta Student Movement which resonated n the struggle across the country. The document was one of the most profound literary documents that drove the Atlanta Student Movement of the 1960s.

The manifesto appeared in three Atlanta newspapers and was reprinted in The New York Times, The Nation, and The Harvard Crimson. Senator Jacob K. Javits, Republican of New York, had it read into the Congressional Record.

Pope was the first of three children, born to Rogers W and Ruth Pauline Singleton Pope. In response to God's sovereign call, she surrendered her earthly body to receive her wings on Wednesday morning, January 18, 2023.

Roslyn's future in leadership was apparent early. She received her early education at E.R. Carter elementary school, and then attended Booker T Washington High School where she graduated in 1955. She began attending Atlanta's Friendship Baptist Church at an early age where she met her music teacher Theodora James, who said after hearing Roslyn perform a simple piece, "I have to teach that child piano". She began lessons at the age of five and continued her music studies in college under the tutelage of Willis Lawrence James who was the head of the music department at Spelman College.

Roslyn excelled in her high school years where she served as the first female president of the student body. During those years, she was selected to represent the state of Georgia as an outstanding scout at a Girl Scout encampment in South Dakota where only one representative was present for each state. She later reflected on how that was her first experience being in an integrated environment after growing up in a strictly segregated society. She continued her study of music and by this time, she had excelled to a level of being privileged to perform with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra while still in high school.

After completing high school, Roslyn's dream was to attend Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio in order to continue her music studies, but her father wanted her to stay closer to home and encouraged her to attend Spelman College which she later agreed was the best thing for her. During her years at Spelman, she continued to excel musically and academically. She served as the class president of her Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior classes. After her junior year, in 1958, she along with another student were awarded the Merrill scholarship in its second year of existence. It was a scholarship that was founded by Charles Merrill Jr, the son of Charles Merrill Sr, who was co-founder of Merrill Lynch. The scholarship allowed students to go anywhere of their choosing, to participate in the study of their choice. Roslyn chose Paris, stating that "There was no comparable place" and remarked that Paris had welcomed a lot of black musicians. While there, she studied under Nadia Boulanger, the renowned French music teacher, and conductor who taught many of the leading musicians and composers of the 20th century. Roslyn later reflected that Paris had given her a "taste of freedom" which made her return to the segregated South that much more difficult.

When she returned from Paris to complete her Senior year at Spelman, she returned with a newfound determination to fight the evils of discrimination that had plagued her throughout her life. She had experienced while in Paris, the feeling of being an equal human being for the first time in her life. She was able to eat, travel, shop, and attend entertainment functions without having to enter through a back door, sit in a certain section, or be denied the privilege of being able to try on clothes prior to purchasing them. With that mindset, she was approached by two students, Lonnie King, and Julian Bond, while she was sitting at the lunch counter at a local drugstore, and they spoke of their intention to start what later became known as the Atlanta Student Movement. They asked if she had any interest in joining their efforts, and Roslyn viewed the invitation as an "answered prayer" to the calling God had put on her heart to bring about change and equality in the segregated South. As word of the students' intentions spread, they were called to meet with the six college presidents who comprised the Atlanta university center and were asked to cease their efforts but were told that if they could not be dissuaded, they would at least need to write something that clearly stated their intentions. This led to the writing of the famous document, An Appeal for Human Rights, written by Roslyn and published by major newspapers around the country outlining the right to equality in education, jobs, housing, hospitals, entertainment, and law enforcement, citing these as not only civil rights but human rights. The document was one of the most profound literary documents that drove the Atlanta Student Movement of the 1960s.

Roslyn graduated from Spelman the following year with a major in music and minors in English and French. In the spring of 1961, she married John W Walker from Ft Lauderdale, Florida and from that union they were blessed with two daughters, Rhonda Lynn, and Donna Ruth Walker. She continued her education at Georgia State University where she earned her master's in English. She was later awarded a grant to attend Syracuse University, to further her education in their Interdisciplinary program in humanities, so she and her daughters relocated to Syracuse so that she could pursue her doctorate which she later obtained in humanities. In the following years, she accepted a position at Penn State where she taught in the Department of Religious Studies and was head of the music department.

In 1976, she and her daughters relocated to Dallas, Texas where she was chairperson of the Humanities Department at Bishop College. Roslyn continued to teach on the high school and college level until she retired from teaching in the early 1980s after accepting a position in advertising with Southwestern Bell where she excelled in sales and remained for twenty years until retirement. Following her retirement, she spent some time in Sedona, Arizona, studying alternative methods of healing and ultimately earned a doctorate in metaphysics. In later life, Roslyn spent her retirement years between Arlington and Atlanta, where she continued to be very active in the Civil Rights Movement until her health began to fail. She returned to Texas for good in the Spring of 2021 where she resided until her death. She once said that of all the many things she was credited with, her children were her biggest accomplishment. Anyone who knew her well would know that that statement must have been prior to her becoming a grandmother. Her grandchildren, as well as her great-granddaughter, were the absolute lights of her life.

Roslyn will be remembered for so many things. Some of those are things that made her noteworthy to society, but more than that, she will be remembered by her family and closest friends as a leader, a light, and a lover of people. She had such a warm and welcoming spirit that made her approachable to all. She had an unassuming wit and an air of class that made her almost regal. She would not hesitate to correct your grammar or spelling no matter who you were or how old. She wanted everyone to be their best which might manifest itself in her telling a stranger to pull up their pants and put out their cigarette or her telling young ladies that they were showing too much cleavage. In a recent interview, she stated that she wants young people to finish the work that was started by their elders and to piggyback off the sacrifices that have been made for them to have a better future.

And while Roslyn did not achieve the national renown of fellow leaders like Julian Bond or Lonnie King, she was revered around Atlanta as the eloquent intellectual architect of the city's civil rights revolution.

Roslyn was preceded in death by her parents Rogers W and Ruth P. Pope, and her sister Paula Ruth Pope Grier, as well as many aunts, and uncles She is mourned by her daughters, grandchildren, a great-grandchild, and one brother as well as many family members and friends who loved her dearly.

Goodbyes only exist for people who love with their eyes. There is no separation for those who love with their heart and soul. May she rest in the peace and love she radiated

No Tears in Heaven

There are no tears in Heaven, no grief of any kind, so you dropped that final teardrop for all you've left behind. Though absent from the body you are very much so present with the Lord. The joy of your salvation is now your full reward. We are trying, patiently waiting for the day. That very day our Great God wipes all of our tears away. We will forever keep you in our memories, sending love and hugs up above...for we know there are no tears in heaven, but instead Love.

Author Unknown

I Am a Black Woman

I am a black woman
the music of my song
some sweet arpeggio of tears
is written in a minor key
and I
can be heard humming in the night
Can be heard
humming
in the night
I saw my mate leap screaming to the sea
and I/with these hands/cupped the life breath
from my issue in the canebrake
I lost Nat's swinging body in a rain of tears
and heard my son scream all the way from Anzio
for Peace he never knew….I
learned Da Nang and Pork Chop Hill
in anguish
Now my nostrils know the gas
and these trigger tire/d fingers
seek the softness in my warrior's beard
I am a black woman
tall as a cypress
strong
beyond all definition still
defying place
and time
and circumstance
assailed
impervious
indestructible
Look
on me and be
renewed
I am a black woman
music of my song
Some sweet arpeggio of tears
is written in minor key
And I
can be heard humming in the night
Can be heard
Humming
In the night
I saw my mate leap screaming to the sea
And i/with these hands/cupped the life-breath
From my issue I the canebrake
I lost Nat's swinging body in the rain of tears
and heard my son scream all the way from Anzio
for Peace he never knew….I
learned Da Nang and Pork Chop Hill
in anguish
Now my nostrils know the gas
and these trigger tired/fingers
seek the softness in my warrior's beard…
I am a black woman
tall as a cypress
strong
beyond all definition still
defying place
and time
and circumstance
assailed
impervious
indestructible
Look
on me and be
renewed…

-Mari Evans