Civil rights & activism · 1913–2005
Rosa Parkscivil rights activistThe Montgomery bus-boycott icon who lived in Detroit for nearly fifty years, worked for Congressman John Conyers and is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.DETROIT / A living lexicon / ¼
Famous Detroiters
People who were born here, moved here or built their careers in Detroit: musicians, carmakers, athletes, writers, inventors, civil-rights leaders and a few notorious names. With their dates, their Detroit story and the places where they lived, worked and played, closed ones included.
- 1,949 famous people
- 516 Detroit places
- 19 fields
Hungarian ties 31 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Origin and citizenship
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
41 people
Clear filtersCivil rights & activism · 1913–2005Rosa Parkscivil rights activistThe Montgomery bus-boycott icon who lived in Detroit for nearly fifty years, worked for Congressman John Conyers and is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Architecture & design · 1910–1961
Eero Saarinenarchitect, industrial designerFinnish-American architect who grew up at Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills and ran his office there; his first masterpiece was the GM Technical Center in Warren.
Auto industry · 1917–1987Henry Ford IIautomotive executive, president and chairman of Ford Motor CompanyHenry Ford's grandson rebuilt a failing Ford Motor Company after 1945 and, after the 1967 unrest, pushed the Renaissance Center into Detroit's skyline.
Architecture & design · 1912–1986Minoru YamasakiarchitectArchitect of the World Trade Center who built his career in metro Detroit, designing Wayne State's McGregor Center and One Woodward Avenue.
Science & invention · 1918–2011Robert Ettingerphysics teacher, author, founder of cryonics'Father of cryonics' who taught physics and mathematics at Wayne State and Highland Park Community College and founded the Cryonics Institute, now in Clinton Township.
Civil rights & activism · 1915–2015Grace Lee Boggsactivist, philosopher, authorChinese American philosopher and activist who lived on Detroit's East Side for 62 years, shaping Black Power, labor and community-renewal movements.
Film & TV · 1913–1984Bob Clampettanimator, director, puppeteerLooney Tunes director and creator of Beany and Cecil, who died in Detroit in 1984 while touring to promote his cartoons on home video.
Music · 1917–2014Alberta Adamsblues singer“Detroit's Queen of the Blues,” who began as a tap dancer in the Hastings Street clubs of the 1930s and was still recording in her nineties.
Politics · 1912–2003Martha Griffithslawyer, judge, politicianDetroit lawyer, first woman judge of the city's Recorder's Court and 20-year congresswoman who forced sex discrimination into the Civil Rights Act and pushed the ERA through the House.
Sports · 1918–2000
Sid Abelice hockey player, coach and general managerHall of Fame center who captained the Red Wings' famed "Production Line" with Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay to three Stanley Cups, then coached and managed the team for another decade.
Military · 1912–1987Della H. Raneymilitary nursePioneering Army nurse, the first African American nurse to report for duty in World War II and the first appointed chief nurse, who died in Detroit in 1987.
Music · 1918–1979Eddie Jeffersonjazz singer, lyricistPioneer of vocalese, the art of setting lyrics to jazz solos, who was shot and killed outside Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit in 1979.
Science & invention · 1919–2011Mildred Rebstockpharmaceutical chemistParke-Davis research chemist in Detroit who led the first complete synthesis of an antibiotic, chloramphenicol (Chloromycetin), in 1947.Lightnin' Slimblues singer, guitaristLouisiana swamp-blues star of Excello Records who later worked in a Pontiac foundry, was rediscovered there in 1970, and died in Detroit in 1974.
Politics · 1911–1988G. Mennen Williamsgovernor of Michigan, diplomat, chief justiceDetroit-born heir to the Mennen toiletries fortune ('Soapy') who as six-term governor (1949–1961) forged Michigan's Democratic alliance of labor, Black voters and liberals.
Politics · 1918–1997Coleman Younglabor organizer, state senator, mayor of DetroitDetroit's first Black mayor (1974–1994), a Tuskegee Airman and fiery labor radical who reshaped the city with the Renaissance Center, the People Mover and new auto plants.
Music · 1917–1988J. C. Heardjazz drummer, bandleaderDetroit-raised swing and bop drummer who played with Teddy Wilson, Cab Calloway and Jazz at the Philharmonic, then returned to Detroit in 1966 as a bandleader and mentor.
Architecture & design · 1912–1988Bill Mitchellautomotive designer, GM vice president of designHarley Earl's successor as GM's design chief, the man behind the 1963 Corvette Sting Ray and Buick Riviera.Dudley Randallpoet, publisher, librarianFounder of Detroit's Broadside Press (1965), the pioneering Black poetry publisher, author of Ballad of Birmingham and Detroit's poet laureate from 1981.
Music · 1917–2000Pat Flowersjazz pianist, singerDetroit stride pianist groomed as Fats Waller's successor, who held the bench at Baker's Keyboard Lounge on and off from 1940 into the mid-1950s.C. L. FranklinBaptist minister, recorded preacher, civil rights leaderPastor of New Bethel Baptist Church from 1946 to 1979, famed for his recorded sermons, a leader of Detroit's 1963 Walk to Freedom and father of Aretha Franklin.
Press & broadcasting · 1918–2010Ernie Harwellbaseball broadcasterThe voice of the Detroit Tigers for 42 seasons, whose gentle Georgia drawl on WJR radio defined summer for generations of Michiganders.Jerome Horwitzchemist, cancer researcherDetroit chemist who in 1964 first synthesized AZT, which two decades later became the first approved drug against HIV.
Labor · 1916–2008Douglas Fraserpresident of the United Auto Workers (1977–1983)Scottish-born Detroit autoworker who led the UAW from 1977 to 1983, helped save Chrysler in 1979 and became the first union leader on a major US corporate board.
Press & broadcasting · 1917–1977Lou Gordontelevision interviewer, columnist, political reporterCombative Detroit TV interviewer whose Lou Gordon Program on WKBD (1966–1977) drew George Romney's 1967 'brainwashing' remark that sank his presidential hopes.
Music · 1913–2005Karl Haasclassical music radio host, pianist, musicologistGerman Jewish émigré who settled in Detroit and in 1959 launched Adventures in Good Music on WJR, which became the world's most widely heard classical music radio program.Maxine Powelletiquette instructor, finishing-school founder, talent agentDetroit finishing-school founder who taught poise and stage manners to the Supremes, Marvin Gaye and other Motown stars in the 1960s.Baby Boy Warrenblues singer, guitaristMemphis-raised guitarist and singer who worked at General Motors and became a leading figure of the 1950s Detroit blues scene.James Boggsautoworker, activist, authorAlabama-born Chrysler worker and radical thinker who, with his wife Grace Lee Boggs, spent five decades organizing for change on Detroit's east side.T. J. Fowlerpianist, organist, bandleaderDetroit-raised pianist whose jump-blues band recorded for Sensation, Savoy and States in the 1940s and 1950s, and who advised Berry Gordy's young Motown in 1959.Calvin Frazierblues guitarist, singer, songwriterArkansas-born guitarist, a companion of Robert Johnson and Johnny Shines, whose 1938 Library of Congress recordings are early documents of Detroit blues.Bobo Jenkinsblues guitarist, singer, songwriter, label ownerAlabama-born bluesman who worked 27 years at Chrysler, recorded "Democrat Blues" for Chess, ran his own Detroit label and launched the first Detroit Blues Festival.Semon Knudsenautomotive executive, head of Pontiac and Chevrolet, president of FordSon of GM president William Knudsen who turned stodgy Pontiac into a performance brand, ran Chevrolet, then had a stormy 19 months as Ford's president.Joe Von Battlerecord store owner, record producerOwner of Joe's Record Shop on Hastings Street and one of the first Black independent record producers, who first recorded Rev. C. L. Franklin and the teenage Aretha Franklin.Budd Lynchhockey broadcaster, public-address announcerOne-armed World War II veteran who spent 63 years with the Red Wings, first as play-by-play voice from 1949 and later as the beloved PA announcer at Joe Louis Arena.
Emil Mazeylabor leader, UAW secretary-treasurerSon of anti-war emigrants from Hungary, the fiery Briggs organizer rose to UAW secretary-treasurer and guarded the union's treasury for 33 years.
Civil rights & activism · 1912–2001Charleszetta WaddlesPentecostal minister, founder of the Mother Waddles Perpetual MissionPentecostal minister known as Mother Waddles who for more than four decades fed, clothed and trained Detroit's poor through her Perpetual Mission.Josephine Harreld Loveconcert pianist, musicologist, museum founderConcert pianist and musicologist who moved to Detroit in 1941 and in 1969 co-founded Your Heritage House, a fine arts museum and studio for the city's children.Bert Rubyprofessional wrestler, trainer, promoterHungarian-Jewish wrestler from Transylvania who became a fixture of Detroit professional wrestling as a barefoot grappler, trainer and the right-hand man of promoter Harry Light.Clare Cummingsmagician, television clownDetroit-area magician who became Milky the Clown, the Twin Pines Dairy's TV mascot, on Detroit television from 1950 to 1964.The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own. Famous people's places among the sights ↗
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