New Bethel Baptist Church

In May 1963 a meeting here led to the founding of the Detroit Council for Human Rights with C. L. Franklin as chairman. The council led the planning of the June 23, 1963, Walk to Freedom, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a precursor to the “I Have a Dream” speech that he later delivered in Washington, D.C. On March 30, 1969, the national convention of the Republic of New Africa was being held in the church when a shooting outside left one police officer dead and another injured. A dozen or more officers responded and fired indiscriminately into the church. The 142 individuals who were inside were arrested and held incommunicado. That night 139 of them were released through the efforts of Recorder’s Court Judge George Crockett. The remaining three were later acquitted of all charges.