Religion / Civil rights & activism / Politics
Nicholas Hood
1923–2016 · minister, civil rights leader, Detroit City Council member
Pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church who fought urban-renewal evictions, built affordable housing and became the second Black member of Detroit's City Council.
- Born
Terre Haute, Indiana- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 92- Also known as
- Nicholas Hood Sr.
- Detroit years
- 1958–2016
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Nicholas Hood, born in Terre Haute, Indiana, studied at Purdue and divinity school and led a Congregational church in New Orleans before becoming senior pastor of Detroit's Plymouth Congregational Church in 1958. He arrived just as the city, under Mayor Louis Miriani, planned to clear acres of Black neighborhoods, including the church itself, for a new medical center. Hood organized the Fellowship of Urban Renewal Churches in 1961, whose opposition helped bring about the upset election of Jerome Cavanagh as mayor in 1961. Rather than simply resist, Plymouth bought nearly 50 acres of renewal land, built a new church and developed the Medical Center Court and Medical Center Village apartments, more than 650 homes. In 1965 Hood was elected to the Detroit City Council, its second Black member, and during the 1967 uprising he was its only Black member, constantly consulted by the mayor and governor. He served six terms, retired from Plymouth in 1985 and died in Detroit in 2016; a street corner near the church bears his name.
Highlights
- Senior pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church, 1958–1985
- Organized the Fellowship of Urban Renewal Churches in 1961
- Built more than 650 affordable apartments near the Detroit Medical Center
- Second Black member of Detroit's City Council, elected 1965
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Memorial · 2016–
Nicholas Hood honorary street naming
Honorary street name at St. Antoine and Canfield, near Plymouth United Church of Christ and in front of one of the housing complexes he fought to build.