10,000 March in Detroit in support of Selma Protest

  In 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. helped organize and lead a series of protests in Selma, Alabama. The "Selma to Montgomery" marches were  important demonstrations that led to the 1965 Voting Rights Act, prohibiting racial discrimination in voting. The abuse of protestors in Alabama led to further demonstrations throughout the country. Detroit was no exception. The Rector of Sacred Heart Seminary, Monsignor Francis X. Canfield, led 400 students several miles to the Central Methodist Church where they were joined by an additional 9000 protestors. The march then proceeded to the Federal building, where leaders met with federal judge Lawrence Gubow. The picture from our collection above shows Governor George Romney and Mayor Jerome Cavanagh in the thick of the march at Fort Street and Woodward in front of the National Bank of Detroit, now known as the "Qube."