DETROIT –
As Black History Month for 2018 wraps up we want to share three sites in our city that show the significance of Detroit's role in Black History. Historian and owner of Seven Point Two Tours, Calvin Moore, takes us on a tour of some important sites right in our own backyard.
Calvin starts off at the Fist of Joe Louis on Jefferson Avenue. Calvin says, "When you think of Black History Month landmarks in Detroit nothing’s probably more iconic..."
Joe Louis was an African American boxer who defeated Max Schmeling in the 1936 Olympics also known as "Hitler's Olympics". Schmeling wasn't a Nazi and the two were actually good friends. But the radio and media played up the boxing match as a good versus evil bout. By winning the match Joe Louis was the first African American to be considered a national hero and not just one for the African American community.
Across Hart Plaza is the Gateway to Freedom Monument, the second site on our Black History tour, designed by Ed Dwight, the first African American astronaut. Calvin explains that many people don't know that because of Detroit's proximity to Canada many runaway slaves would come here and cross over to Canada by boat where they couldn't be retrieved by bounty hunters from the South. The monument marks the actual last stop on the Underground Railroad and the Gateway to Freedom Monument is a historical treasure for the City of Detroit.
The final stop on the tour is the approximately two hundred year old Central United Methodist Church in downtown Detroit on Woodward Avenue. The significance of the church is one that may surprise the average person. Calvin explains, “This is the first place where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. first delivered his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. And as a matter of fact, it was longer than the speech he delivered in DC." To make this fact even more interesting the speech was recorded by Motown Records making Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. a Motown Recording Artist. Who knew?
Calvin says, "…whether we're talking about sports icons or we're talking about the history of the Underground Railroad in the City of Detroit or our magnificent churches; African Americans have been at the forefront of history. And to this day black people are still contributing to history here in the United States."
For more information on how you can take your own tour in the D visit: http://www.seventwotours.com/