Delete WardJan 15, 2025
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., visited Cleveland more than a dozen times during the 1960s, raising funds for the civil rights movement, preaching social justice and urging African Americans to register to vote. He first visited Cleveland on August 7, 1956, attending the annual convention of the National Negro Funeral Directors Association at the Hollenden House downtown. In his address, he reported on the progress of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott.
But he came back time and again to raise money for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, to organize tenant unions, register voters and plan protests. He spoke in churches, hotel ballrooms, parking lots and school auditoriums.
On November 26, 1961, the Rev. King addressed nearly 4,000 people during two church services at Antioch Baptist Church. On September 29, 1963, Dr. King returned to Antioch to speak during the installation of the church’s new pastor, the Rev. Kelly Miller Smith.
As his national stature as a civil rights leader grew, his appearances in Cleveland would draw tens of thousands of people to hear his speeches, some of them in the open air on city street corners. He would talk about the evils of racial injustice and economic exploitation and urged Cleveland’s disenfranchised citizens to organize their communities and to peacefully protest conditions of poverty and despair. During the summer and fall of 1967, Dr. King was a regular visitor to Cleveland where he campaigned for Carl Stokes the first African American who would become mayor of a major American city.
Dr. King’s last visit here was on December 16, 1967. He came to debate the president of the Cleveland Bar Association, James C. Davis, on civil disobedience. The civil rights leader was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968, just six days before his next scheduled return to Cleveland.
Time Line of some of Rev. King's visits:
November 26, 1961, the Rev. King addressed nearly 4,000 people during two church services at Antioch Baptist Church.
May 14, 1963, the Rev. King addressed the Episcopal Society for Christian and Racial Unity at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights. Later that day, the Rev. King was met by an enthusiastic throng of nearly 10,000 people as he made his way to Cory United Methodist Church.
September 29, 1963, the Rev. King spoke at Antioch Church during the installation of the church’s new pastor, the Rev. Kelly Miller Smith.
October 23, 1964, the Rev. King joined a “March on the Ballot Box” in Cleveland where spoke on street corners, in schools and at Olivet Institutional Church.
March 23, 1965, the Rev. King attended a dinner at the Sheraton-Cleveland Hotel where he was honored for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
April 26, 1967, the Rev. King visits three high schools, including Glenville High School, where his speech was recorded and safely archived. (Hear or read his speech.)
December 16, 1967, the Rev. King makes his last appearance in Cleveland where he debated the president of the Cleveland Bar Association, James C. Davis, on civil disobedience.