Detroit church, civil rights touchstone, gets $500K rehab grant - Detroit, MI - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

News article text:
DETROIT – A deteriorating, century-old Detroit church - where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and other civil rights leaders spoke - is on its way to rehabilitation.

King Solomon Baptist Church will be outfitted with a new roof to protect the building from further damage thanks to a $500,000 National Park Service African American Civil Rights grant, according to a news release from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. The grant will be administered by the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.

The church, 6125 14th St., was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015 in recognition of its role in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

King Solomon’s “rehabilitation is crucial to preserving the memories of the African American struggle to gain equal rights as citizens in the 20th century,” Brian D. Conway, state historic preservation officer, said in a statement.

The church is best known as the site of Malcolm X’s revolutionary “Message to the Grassroots” speech in 1963 that sparked the Black Power Movement, according to the release.

As one of the largest gathering places for African Americans in Detroit at the time, the church’s 5,000-seat auditorium became a popular speaking venue for national civil rights leaders.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke twice at King Solomon. In 1954, then-lead council for the NAACP Thurgood Marshall spoke at the church after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling that disallowed segregated schools. In 1956, U.S. Rep. Charles Diggs gave a national radio address from the church about the murder of Emmett Till.

The church was built in 1917 for a white Baptist congregation. After World War II, the Northwest Goldberg neighborhood evolved from primarily white to mostly African American. In 1955, the building was purchased by an African American congregation led by the Rev. Thomas Boone – also a historian and writer.

The Black Arts Movement found a home at the church when it housed a cultural center known as the Boone House, which has since been demolished. The center fostered black artists, musicians, poets and writers, including Langston Hughes and Dudley Randall when de facto segregation barred them from other Detroit venues.

“Our goal in this restoration is to continue the church’s tradition of empowerment, education and research,” Rev. Charles Williams II, pastor of King Solomon Baptist Church, said in a statement. “The black church from its inception has had a mission to deal with oppression and disparities in black communities. The way we intend to appreciate the past is by carrying that torch forward.”

The grant-funded roof work is expected to protect the structure from further weather damage while a plan for its reuse is developed, the release states. The grant will pay for construction drawings, insulation, shingles, drain slopes and drains, metal edging, copper valleys and saddles, and repair and replacement of fascia trim.

This is the second National Park Service African American Civil Rights grant the Michigan SHPO has received. In 2016, the first grant documented thirty 20th Century civil rights sites in Detroit, developed National Register of Historic Places nominations for five sites and will place Michigan State Historical Markers at three civil rights sites, according to the release. A bike tour encompassing 15 civil rights sites is also being developed.

SHPO became part of the MEDC in August after an executive order from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

“SHPO’s efforts in the areas of historic preservation-based economic development, cultural tourism and promotion of Michigan’s historic resources perfectly align with MEDC’s community development programs,” MEDC CEO Jeff Mason said in a statement.

Type of publication: Internet Only When was the article reported?: 10/10/2019 Publication: MLive.com Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: local News Category: Arts/Culture

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