From marches to service projects, communities across Metro Detroit are honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Local events are bringing people together to reflect, volunteer, and celebrate his message of equality.
At the Henry Ford Museum, a choir sings as an ordinary chair sits quietly, its fabric embedded with history.
“This is a chair in which history happened,” said Cynthia Jones, director of museum experiences at the Henry Ford.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sat in this chair while watching President Lyndon B. Johnson deliver his “We Shall Overcome” speech to Congress in 1965, just days after Bloody Sunday in Selma.
The chair once belonged to the Jackson family, civil rights activists from Selma.
Now, it’s on display for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and offers a glimpse of what visitors will see at the Jackson Home, opening in June in Greenfield Village.
“He becomes human through an object like this. And when you can make a person of history a person, then maybe you can too make a difference like that person,” Jones said.
Across Metro Detroit, people gathered to reflect on King’s life and legacy.
Michigan United hosted an event on Detroit’s west side.
“Freedom doesn’t sustain itself on feelings. It sustains itself on formation, on training, on leadership development, on people learning how power works so they can move it,” Elder RaShad Frazier-Gaines said.
Some braved the cold for the 23rd annual MLK Day rally and march on Woodward Avenue.
Back at the Henry Ford Museum, King’s spirit filled the room, inspiring people to be a force for good in the world.
“You got to help everybody out and be kind to everybody,” said John Howard, an attendee.
Thousands spent the day at the Henry Ford Museum, where admission was free in honor of the King holiday.