A Time to Dream
In the 1960s, as in most eras, Michiganians dreamed of a better life. The automobile
industry and economy prospered, and labor unions were strong. Michiganians' dreams ranged
from new homes or a college education to social justice at home and abroad.
Janet Kreger, who lived in Detroit at the time, talks of driving down Woodward
Avenue: "If
you had not been exposed to Woodward, well, you hadn't cruised anyplace." She loved her
"mother's 1965 first-off-line Mustang with a V-8 engine. It had so much power."
The 1960s was a kaleidoscope of fashions and fads. Young people did the twist. Children
played with Barbie dolls, skateboards and hula hoops. Parents sought advice from Dr. Benjamin Spock's Baby and Child Care.
John F. Kennedy introduced the idea of the Peace Corps at the University of
Michigan on October 13, 1960, while campaigning for the presidency. Idealistic young
people joined the corps hoping to bring education, health care and economic improvement to
people around the world. Martin McLaughlin dedicated two years of his life working in the
Peace Corps in Somalia. This is his Peace Corps identification card.
Michiganians also worked for social justice at home. They traveled to the South to help
register black voters. They joined nonviolent protests like the Reverend Martin Luther
King Jr.'s "Walk to Freedom" down Woodward Avenue from Adelaide Street to Cobo
Hall in Detroit on June 23, 1963.
In August of that year, Michiganians joined people from all over America in the
"March on Washington" in support of President Kennedy's Civil Rights Bill. At
this largest civil rights demonstration in history, Dr. King made famous a phrase he had
used in Detroit: "I have a dream." The Civil Rights Bill passed in 1964 under
President Lyndon Johnson's administration.
Change did not occur overnight and other marches followed.
 I got this pin when I went on a caravan from
Michigan to Washington, DC, to be part of the Poor People's March in 1968. We felt we
wanted to do something--it was a pilgrimage. We left there disillusioned with what was
going on in America and American politics. (Patrick Murphy)
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