Sold Date: May 3, 2021
Start Date: August 28, 2020
Final Price: $150.00 (USD)
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The Great March to Freedom
Rev. Martin Luther King Speaks Detroit June 23, 1963
  Original pressing by Motown's Berry Gordy
of a famous civil right speech by MLK
 

Detroit: Gordy, 1963. Gordy 906. Original pressing. Near Mint in EX cover, a little soiled and toned,  with original Gordy inner sleeve showcasing Motown soul acts of the day, age toned and foxed. Music journalist Ian McCann recently wrote of this album:
Dr. King’s dazzling and deeply moving words from both speeches were released on record – appropriately by Motown, which was starting to build the sort of global reputation for the city’s soul music that previously only its cars had enjoyed. Motown issued the album of the Detroit speech in August 1963, titling it The Great March To Freedom. The label had negotiated a 40-cents-per-copy royalty and a $400 advance for the album with Dr. King, a generous deal for a record with a wholesale price of $1.80. Dr King refused the royalties, instead asking for the payments to go to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Berry Gordy also made a $500 donation to the organization and Motown acts appeared at its fundraisers. [...]

Motown released The Great March To Freedom and The Great March On Washington on its mainstream R&B subsidiary, Gordy. Their front sleeves did not bear the label’s logo, as would normally be the case. Instead, a dramatic, newsy-looking layout emphasized the import of their contents. The first of the two records was also in a gatefold sleeve – four years before this became a rock music “innovation” – featuring an impressive photo of the mass of protesters in Detroit. Motown, or more accurately recording engineer Milton Henry, captured the atmosphere beautifully. These releases are not hi-fi experiences, but they are real: you can hear the vastness of the crowds in Detroit and the capital, and the rapt attention the people gave Dr. King. It’s not hard to imagine the scene.