In June 1963, King stood before 25,000 people at Cobo Hallin Detroit, his voice ringing out in the convention center, saying the words that would become written into American history for all time.“I have a dream this afternoon.” His appearance at Cobo Hall came at the end of a day that began with The Walk to Freedom, a civil rights march in Detroit that would draw some 125,000 people and be the largest of its kind until it was eclipsed, two...
A Bold Stroke for Freedom
A story buried in the Philadelphia abolitionist William Still’s Underground Railroad a comprehensive record kept of the escapes from slavery of African Americans tells the stunning story of a married couple Barnaby and Mary Elizabeth Grigby, Frank Wanzer, and Emily Foster. All 20-something, and described in Still’s narrative as being intelligent and attractive, they had no intention of living their lives out in slavery. So they took horses...
Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth (1922-2011)
American Legacy mourns the loss of Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a leader of the civil rights movement who was at the forefront of the battle against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Calmly, doggedly, and at great risk to his life, he chipped away at the implacable system that was Jim Crow until it was dismantled. Below is a Fall 2006 article on his struggle, and eventual victory. ON ONE SIDE WAS THE SQUAT, PUGNACIOUS EUGENE “BULL”...
