Saturday's commemoration down the same route aims to be 'march for equality on all levels.'


When you talk with people who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Detroit's "Walk to Freedom" 50 years ago, they will speak about the spirit of pride, unity, purpose and hope that permeated the crowd of 125,000 as they made their way through Detroit.

The march, held June 23, 1963, was the largest-ever civil rights demonstration in the country at that time. It was also the first time King delivered a version of his now-famous I Have A Dream speech.

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On Saturday, the Detroit branch of the NAACP, the United Auto Workers and numerous other religious, civic and community organizations will commemorate the march.

"While we celebrate the dream and the legacy of Dr. King, we are compelled to work to make that dream a reality," said Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit NAACP branch. "This is more than a march; it's a call to action."

Saturday's demonstration lands at the apex of a critical moment in Detroit history. As the city teeters on the verge of bankruptcy and uncertainty, reigniting a spirit of unity, pride and purpose is crucial, march organizers have said.

"It's not solely because there's an emergency manager in Detroit; it's not solely because this state has become a right-to-work state or because we are having financial issues all over the state of Michigan, including in Detroit. It's because of all of those issues, but it's mostly because the work of Dr. King is not finished," Anthony said. "We've made a great deal of strides since Dr. King walked down Woodward. But we cannot afford to rest. We're doing this to remind everyone that there is still work to be done."

The Detroit march preceeded the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" in August 1963. A national march commemorating the 50th anniversary of the demonstration will be held Aug. 28 in Washington.

A photo of the Rev. Nicholas Hood II along with two of his sons and church members at the Detroit march is proudly displayed in the offices of Plymouth Congregational Church of Christ in Detroit, where his son, the Rev. Nick Hood III, is the pastor.

Nick Hood was 12 at the time. "I was there because my father said, 'This is what we're doing,''' he recalled. It was as he grew older that he came to participate of his own accord in working toward civil and human rights.

Hood recalled, as a child, questioning and chastising civil rights leader the Rev. Andrew Young for walking peacefully while being physically and verbally attacked during protests in the South.

"I'll never forget it. He told me it actually takes more strength to resist, to love a movement so much you would not fight back," Hood said.

Hood said he hopes Saturday's march has the same kind of spirit. He applauded organizers for encouraging inclusiveness because that is what King would have wanted.

"Fifty years ago, we marched for human rights," Hood said. "Today, we march for human rights. We march for equality on all levels."

Gloria Mills, 64, a retired school librarian, volunteers as a voter registrar in part because of the impression the Detroit march made on her at age 14.

"I remember when the news would come on television, and they'd show what was happening in the South — people being attacked dogs and water hoses — my parents would make us stop playing. She'd say, 'Come in here and watch; see what they're doing to our people who just want to vote.'"

Marian Mackall, 68, of Detroit spent many of her childhood summers with family in Kentucky, where she experienced discrimination.

"As soon as we got to Louisville, the restrooms and water fountains at the rest stop were marked 'colored.' We stayed with family in Greenville, Ky. We couldn't sit upstairs at the movie theater, drink a cherry Coke at the drugstore counter; we couldn't try on clothes in the stores.

"So when I heard about Martin Luther King coming, I said right away, I was going," said Mackall, who was 18 at the time and went with her father to the march.

Isaac Washington was 9 when King came to Detroit. His father, Ben Washington, was an assistant to one of the leaders of the 1963 march, the passionate and popular Rev. C.L. Franklin, then pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit. Ben Washington was chairman of the board of trustees at New Bethel.

"I remember my dad attending meetings with Rev. Franklin and Dr. King, but as a kid, I didn't realize the significance or magnitude of the march," said Washington, 59, of Southfield. "But I do remember marching down Woodward that day because there were so many people. The place was just full. And you could see the pride on people's faces. They knew they were moving as a people; they were not going to continue with the status quo."

Lynn Thomas of Detroit, a 69-year-old retired teacher, was 18 when she participated in the march. She said she hoped that the commemoration sparks a historical awareness among young people.

"Young people need to know that many things they take for granted didn't just happen," she said. "People risked their lives to make it happen. This is how you keep history alive, by sharing remembrances and letting people know how it was."