For Deborah Smith Pollard, the music was “in her bones.”
That’s how Michigan’s poet laureate, Melba Joyce Boyd, described her late friend, the award-winning gospel scholar, professor, author and longtime radio host who died on Sunday, April 12 at the age of 74.
“She was such a rare talent,” said Boyd, a retired Wayne State University African American Studies professor.
Pollard, of Detroit, taught inside the classroom and outside of it, too. She was described by mentees, friends and colleagues as one of the foremost scholars of gospel music, who loved Detroit and cared deeply about her faith and uplifting other academics.
She was a familiar voice for listeners of Sunday Morning Inspiration on Detroit’s Mix 92.3. The station celebrated Pollard’s life and legacy with a special tribute show a week after her death with songs such as “It’s O.K.” by BeBe & CeCe Winans; “Heaven” by Algebra Blessett and Anthony David, and “Faith That Conquers” by Vanessa Bell Armstrong.
“A proud Detroiter, Deborah built a remarkable career as a professor at University of Michigan-Dearborn, where she inspired generations of students through her passion for literature, gospel music, and Black expressive traditions. She was known not only for her scholarship but for her ability to connect deeply with people − bringing history, faith, and culture to life in every lecture and conversation,” according to a Facebook post from the station on Monday, April 13. “Deborah was also a beloved voice on the airwaves, sharing gospel music and spiritual encouragement with listeners across the Detroit area. Her warmth, authenticity, and deep knowledge made her a trusted and cherished presence in the community.”
Pollard was a founding member of the University of Michigan Dearborn’s African and African American Studies program and directed it for six years. She taught popular classes on African American Literature and gospel music. Pollard, professor emerita of English literature and humanities, joined the university in 1995. She retired in 2023.
She earned her Ph.D. in American Studies from Michigan State University in 1994 and was a scholar of contemporary gospel music, according to a report on her retirement from the University of Michigan and the Library of Michigan. Pollard, the daughter of a pastor and music minister, authored the book “When the Church Becomes Your Party” and several articles.
‘A beautiful spirit on this side of Earth’
Pollard’s colleagues and mentees say she’s someone who welcomed them with open arms into academia − who told them to stand up for themselves and be authentic.
Detroit-based music writer Veronica Johnson said Pollard showed up for her students, even after they graduated. Johnson appeared on Pollard’s radio show to talk about a publication she co-founded for young women of color. Johnson listened to Pollard’s show regularly on her way to church, and said she drew both younger and older audiences.
“She was really the foundation for me to see music in a different light, being able to write about it as both a scholar and a journalist,” Johnson said.
Pollard knew gospel “up and down,” she said.
“It’s important for me to just … continue on her legacy as a scholar because I’m also an oral historian, so I’m doing my part to preserve the legacy of jazz music,” Johnson said. “I’m doing a project where I’m interviewing female jazz musicians from the city of Detroit. I feel like I’m trying to play my part and also preserve her legacy by making sure that jazz in Detroit stays alive, kind of like she did with a gospel. She wanted to make sure that gospel had a platform.”
Pollard’s scholarly pursuits went beyond the walls of her classroom.
“She wasn’t just a person who studied sacred music, she was a person who also is a believer and she lived out her faith without proselytizing people on a regular basis. That was not her goal. Her goal was to always be encouraging,” said Terri Laws, associate professor of African and African American Studies at the University of Michigan Dearborn, and co-director of the program. She met Pollard through her interview process and came to know her as a mentor and friend.
About 7% of college and university faculty were Black in 2022, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Pollard was someone who encouraged younger scholars and recent graduates in academia so people could see more faces that looked like hers in the classroom and at conferences, Laws said.
“She was just a person of integrity − a beautiful spirit on this side of Earth and the next and someone who we will miss greatly,” she said.
DeLean Tolbert Smith got to know Pollard while she was an engineering student at the University of Michigan Dearborn, and involved with the gospel choir Pollard advised. Smith eventually returned to the school as a faculty member.
Pollard advocated for Smith − now an associate professor in the industrial and manufacturing systems engineering department − and mentored her through the tenure process. She could go to Pollard for help navigating the politics of the university and how to speak up for herself. Smith said she believes Pollard spoke up for her in rooms she wasn’t in.
“She was true to herself and she knew how to navigate different environments. … She did it with grace, she did it with humility, but also with confidence, and she also modeled how to look around the room and see who else needs maybe a bit of that grace, a bit of that confidence,” Smith said.
Maureen Linker met Pollard in the late 1990s when they were colleagues in the humanities department. The pair bonded over loving their cities (Linker from Brooklyn and Pollard from Detroit), music, movies and the experience of losing a parent. Linker’s son, who grew to be very tall, was Pollard’s “favorite tall person.”
Pollard taught Zumba and loved theater and traveling. She was fashionable and wore beautiful hats, said Linker, a philosophy professor at the University of Michigan Dearborn.
She held onto her faith and personal relationship with God and made Linker “believe that there is that good place and that for certain she’s going there.” For Linker, that offered some comfort after her friend’s passing. She attended Pollard’s mother’s funeral − a service she described as the “most beautiful” she’d ever been to, with several gospel choirs and a white casket.
“She said, ‘I wanted my mother to be sung to heaven by angels, and that’s what it felt like. It was beautiful. So, I’ve been thinking about that a lot, about how her service is going to be this weekend,” Linker said.
Pollard’s homegoing celebration is scheduled to take place at noon on Saturday, April 25, following a musical tribute at 11 a.m., at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church at 2080 W. Grand Boulevard in Detroit.
Reach reporter Nushrat Rahman at nrahman@freepress.com.
