MLK’s “I Have a Dream Speech” Happened in Detroit First?

Did you know Martin Luther King Jr delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech in Detroit months before the March on Washington?

One of the most recognizable speeches in American history took place in front of the Lincoln Monument in Washington D.C. on August 28th, 1963.  That of course was Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech during the largest Civil Rights demonstration ever, the March on Washington.

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Martin Luther King Jr gave nearly the exact same speech a couple of months before the famous Washington D.C. march as part of the Walk to Freedom demonstration in Detroit on June 23rd, 1963 according to Culture Trip,

The date of June 23rd was chosen to honor the 20th anniversary of the Detroit race riot of 1943.

More than 250,000 people attended the famous March on Washington.  That huge event clearly overshadowed the Detroit demonstration.  However, the Walk to Freedom march in Detroit was enormous by anyone's standards. Over 125,000 people walked with MLK that day in Detroit including Aretha Franklin's father Rev. C.L. Franklin and Jerome Cavanagh Detroit's mayor.

The Visit Detroit website has an article that talks about the huge impact that King had on the Motor City as it points out one difference between the Detroit speech and the Washington speech,

In the Detroit speech, he speaks of his dream for Blacks in Detroit to “be able to buy a house or rent a house anywhere that their money will carry them, and they will be able to get a job.

You can hear the full MLK speech from Detroit in the YouTube video below.