Read Governor Henry P. Baldwin’s Speech Calling for a New Michigan Capitol Building.
More about Michigan Governor Henry Porter Baldwin from the National Governor’s Association.
The Detroit Athletic Club held its first annual meeting, with 419 members in attendance, on this day.
Source : Michigan History, March/April 2017, p.8.
On March 13, 1946, a strike at General Motors lasting 113 days ended.
The strike, led by the United Auto Workers, resulted when GM offered a 10 percent wage increase and the union wanted a 30 percent wage increase.
Salaries ended up being raised from $1.12 to $1.30 per hour.
Source: Michigan Every Day
On March 13, 1997, the University of Michigan announced it would reopen their investigation into allegations that booster Ed Martin gave cash and other improper benefits to the school’s men basketball players in response to a Detroit Free Press report that such rule-breaking violations had occurred.
Martin allegedly “slipped money to players after games and had supplied cash hidden in envelopes, occasionally in cake boxes and at times through girlfriends or close acquaintances,” according to the Free Press.
The disclosure would ultimately tarnish the history of the Fab Five era.
Source: Detroit Free Press
During Prohibition, a truck hauling a load of Jack Daniels from Canada to Detroit broke through the ice and sunk. When federal agents noticed that Detroit residents were attempting to fish for bottles from the river bottom, they declared the practice illegal in an attempt to thwart the thirst residents!
Source : Michigan Every Day
This is how ‘It’ Looked: This drawing of one of the unidentified flying objects reported over Dexter Township last night was made by Sheriff’s Cpl. David B. Severance from descriptions provided by a half-dozen deputies and area residents. All witnesses generally agreed on the shape and size of the objects and on the colored lights which appeared on them. Ann Arbor News, March 21, 1966.
In the early morning hours of March 14, 1966, Washtenaw County sheriff’s deputies reported sighting “four strange flying objects” in Lima Township. Soon police agencies from Livingston County, Monroe County and Sylvania, Ohio were also reporting “red-green objects . . . moving at fantastic speeds.” By the end of the day the Civil Defense and U.S. Air Force were called in to an investigation that has never really ended for many of those involved.
March 14, 1966 article from the Ann Arbor news described the area’s initial UFO sighting. (Source : Ann Arbor District Library Newspaper Archive)
Source : “Close Encounters in Washtenaw County”, Old News, May 30, 2012.
Drawing of UFO Sighted at Mannor Farm in 1966 , Ann Arbor News, March 21, 1966.
1966 : The Year UFOs Came to Michigan
UFO
Flying Saucer
King’s speech, dubbed “The Other America,” began innocently enough on this day. He explained that black children weren’t reaching their potential because of the deplorable learning environment.
“The schools are so inadequate, so overcrowded, so devoid of quality, so segregated if you will, that the best in these minds can never come out,” King said.
A woman shouted at King from the audience, joining other hecklers who called him a “traitor” and demanded he leave.
Those close to King noticed that his normally steady hands were shaking. His forehead glistened in sweat.
But he continued, and the hecklers were drowned out by deafening applause.
King’s speech was aimed at a white suburban audience. He urged supporters to stand up and oppose inequality.
“It may well be that we may have to repent in this generation for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say wait on time,” King said.
King could have been speaking today. The preacher said it was unacceptable that nearly 9% of the black community was unemployed. In Detroit, the current unemployment rate is 17%. Schools are virtual dropout factories. And more than half of the city’s children live in poverty.
“Until (racism) is removed, there will be people walking the streets, living in their humble dwellings feeling that they are nobody, feeling that they have no dignity and feeling that they are not respected,” King said. “The first thing that must be on the agenda of our nation is to get rid of racism.”
Hecklers continued to berate King. When he expressed opposition to the Vietnam War, which he called “unjust, ill-considered, evil, costly, unwinable,” some in the audience became incensed. Security removed three or four people.
An undercover FBI agent in the audience reported that King’s speech was peaceful.
Less than a year after the deadly 1967 riots in Detroit, King advocated nonviolence.
“I’m absolutely convinced that a riot merely intensifies the fears of the white community while relieving the guilt,” King said. “A riot is the language of the unheard.”
The audience erupted in applause; others booed.
A bewildered King spoke at a press conference after the speech, saying he had never faced such hostility at an indoor event.
It was one of King’s most memorable – and often overlooked – speeches. Read the entire speech here.
Three weeks later, King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
Source:
Steve Neavling, “Martin Luther King Jr. defied hecklers in Grosse Pointe speech in 1968“, Motor City Muckracker, January 15, 2017.
President Bill Clinton opens the G7 Jobs Conference, held at Detroit’s Fox Theater, March 14, 1994.
On March 14, 1994, President Clinton brought the leaders of the world’s industrial nations to the Fox Theater to have a meeting about jobs.
Countries represented included the U.S., Britain, Canada, France, Germany, italy, and Japan. The G7 would later become the G8 with the addition of Russia. While in Detroit, President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, and Mayor Dennis Archer jogged on Belle Isle.
Source : Detroit Free Press, March 11, 2012.
On March 14, 1997, more than 200,000 metro Detroit households lost power in the worst ice storm in the history of Detroit Edison.
Source : Detroit Historical Society of Michigan Facebook Page
Senior Leah O’Connor came through with another record-setting race and won her second career individual national title on Saturday as the Michigan State track and field squad wrapped up its 2015 indoor season at the NCAA Championship meet.
O’Connor was able to pull away from a loaded field of runners during the final 200 meters of the women’s mile race as she clocked in with a time of 4:27.18, the fastest time in NCAA Track & Field Championships history and the second-fastest overall time in the history of the NCAA. O’Connor also broke her previous MSU school record from the 2015 Big Ten Indoor Championships (4:32.29) by more than five seconds. She was recognized as a first-team All-American for the second consecutive year after finishing seventh with a time of 4:40.86 in 2014.
The championship was the second individual title of O’Connor’s career as she also won the women’s 3,000m steeplechase at the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon. She is the first-ever national champion in the women’s mile run from MSU and just the second women’s indoor national champion in program history, joining Sevetheda Fynes (1997). To view O’Connor’s post-race interview with Flotrack, click here.
“Unbelievable performance by Leah. It’s not easy to lead a championship race wire-to-wire like she did, especially against a phenomenal field that included last year’s 1,500 meter champion,” said Michigan State Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Walt Drenth. “She was patient and followed the plan flawlessly and just showed great poise throughout the entire race.
“She continues to get better every time she takes the track it seems. I have no doubt there’s more great performances to come from her in the outdoor season and the sky really is the limit for her. Not only has she been an exceptional leader, but she’s been an equally great person for our team and that’s just a testament to her and her family.”
Source : “Leah O’Connor Claims Women’s Mile Title At NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships”, MSU Track and Field Blog, March 14, 2015.