DETROIT (WWJ) – On Monday Detroit celebrated Juneteenth, a day that celebrates the emancipation of the last enslaved Americans.
Friday will mark the 60-year anniversary of the Detroit Walk to Freedom – an historic march where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. first delivered his “I Have A Dream Speech.”
On a new Daily J podcast, WWJ’s Zach Clark takes a look back to the Civil Rights Movement in Detroit and one of the churches that was central in driving the movement – the Shrine of the Black Madonna.
For many, the movement started in churches across the country, and Detroit journalist and historian Ken Coleman says it was no different in Detroit.
“The African-American experience as it relates to the fight for social and economic dignity in our country, the church has been at the forefront and it really always has been throughout American history,” Coleman said. “In Detroit, it’s been very much part of efforts to advance the lot in life for African-American people and the Shrine of the Black Madonna was certainly part of that.”
He explains how the formation of the Shrine of the Black Madonna under the political auspices of Pan African Orthodox Christian Church gave Detroiters the power to fight for their civil rights.
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