Near West Side Chicago church commemorates speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

A congregation on Chicago's Near West Side gathered over the weekend to commemorate 60 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke there.

On July, 7, 1966, Dr. King held a community rally at First Immanuel Lutheran Church, at 1124 S. Ashland Ave. near Roosevelt Road.

His speech was part of a campaign to fight housing segregation in Chicago. A crowd arrived well ahead of time that evening.

"It was like no other crowd that First Immanuel had ever seen," the church said in a published historical essay. "There were lots of smiles. Strangers were greeting strangers like old friends, exchanging stories. Blacks and whites and browns. Men, women, and a few children, Lutherans and Baptists and Methodists. Two rows of nuns in their black habits. Jewish merchants from the community. And many who had never seen the inside of a house of worship except for weddings and funerals."

Dr. King quoted from the Bible and focused on the prophets' call to justice, and spoke briefly about his dream for racial equality and justice, the church said.

"But mostly he talked about the urgency of our task, and that non-violence was the way to bring justice that would endure. He encouraged us to believe in the future, and to join him in the campaign," the church said in the essay. "After he had finished the audience didn't just stand, they leaped to their feet. The applause was thunderous. It wasn't so much for the speech. We all had heard that speech before. It was for the man."

The celebration on Sunday included a presentation from artist and MacArthur Genius Grant winner Tonika Lewis Johnson, whose Folded Map Project aims to carry on Dr. King's' work.

"The work that Dr. Martin Luther King came to Chicago to do and to illuminate, it has evolved, still going on today. Segregation is just as prevalent today in Chicago as it was then," said Johnson. "I am really honored to be able to kind of carry the torch to help continue to educate all of us through art about why that's important and how it impacts us today."

First Immanuel said it is seeking landmark designation from the city so Dr. King's visit is never forgotten.