Governor Romney Marched In July 1963 In An NAACP-Sponsored March Through Grosse Pointe. The next couple of NAACP marches into the suburbs were more pleasant. Both Grosse Pointe and Royal Oak Township welcomed the interracial marchers. Close to 500 black and white marchers, including many Grosse Pointers, marched in the Pointes that July. Governor George Romney made a surprise appearance in his shirt sleeves and joined the parade leaders. (Joe T. Darden, Detroit, Race And Uneven Development, 1987, p. 132)
In 1963, George Romney Gave The Keynote Address At The Conference That Sparked The Martin Luther King Freedom Marches In Detroit. The establishment of these human relations groups came in the wake of several major events (besides the embarrassing racist practices of such suburbs as Dearborn), which took place in 1963 and helped galvanize interracial support and cooperation for integrated housing. The first event was the Metropolitan Conference on Open Occupancy held in Detroit in January 1963. The second event was the Martin Luther King Freedom March in June of the same year, the spinoffs of which were several Detroit NAACP-sponsored interracial marches into Detroit suburbs to dramatize the need for black housing. Governor George Romney gave the keynote speech at this conference, in which he pledged to use the power of the state to achieve housing equality in Michigan. (Joe T. Darden, Detroit, Race And Uneven Development, 1987, p. 132)