On a summer day on June 23, 1963, more than 125,000 people marched down Detroit’s Woodward Avenue in what would later be known as the 1963 Walk to Freedom. The civil rights demonstration featured several prominent civil rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and was touted as the largest civil rights demonstration in the nation’s history up to that point.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. walks down Woodward Avenue during the 1963 Walk to Freedom, the largest civil rights demonstration of its kind at the time.
The march was also the forerunner to the even larger civil rights March on Washington D.C. and featured an early version of Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech delivered at Cobo Arena, which is now called Huntington Place.
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Reflecting on the Walk to Freedom and the milestone anniversary coming up, Detroit historian and Michigan Advance reporter Ken Coleman joins “American Black Journal” host Stephen Henderson to talk about the historic civil rights event. Coleman gives a historical perspective on Dr. King’s connection to Detroit and how Dr. King ended up participating in the walk down Woodward Avenue.
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Watch American Black Journal on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 9:30 a.m. on Detroit Public TV, WTVS-Channel 56.
