For the second consecutive year, Detroit was ranked by Treetopia as the number one city in America to celebrate and remember civil rights pioneer Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Playing host to a 50-year-old annual Peace Walk and the largest African American museum in the world are just two of the reasons the Motor City has earned this title.
“Detroit has a profound history of African American political activity and cultural activity,” Abayomi Azikiwe, the media coordinator for the Detroit MLK committee, says. “Detroit has a tremendous history in regard to civil rights and the struggle of the African American people.”
Before his March on Washington, D.C., Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the largest march against racial injustice ever in Detroit, with an estimated 120,000 to 300,000 people following in his footsteps. The event happened on June 23, 1963.
Detroit’s history is rich in African American heritage, with roots in the Underground Railroad in the 19th century.
“Detroit is still at the center of the struggle against racism, against oppression. This demonstration is a manifestation of that,” Azikiwe says.
Treetopia is a website that ranks the best places to celebrate different holidays. Based on metrics from Google Trends and Analytics, data points, news articles, and online reviews, this will be the second year in a row Detroit was the number one city to celebrate MLK day.
In 2016 Detroit scored a 100 in Treetopia’s scale, New Orleans came in second at 84, and Memphis third at 71.
Jack Nissen an editorial intern for the Metro Times and a masters candidate of environmental journalism at Michigan State University.
