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.
- 1,743 famous people
- 96 Detroit places
- 22 fields
Hungarian ties 21 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
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Religion · 1791–1871Frederick Resefirst Catholic Bishop of DetroitGerman-born priest who became the first Catholic bishop of Detroit in 1833, taking Ste. Anne's as his cathedral and bringing religious orders to the frontier diocese.
Music · born 1973Deitrick Haddongospel singer, songwriter, producer, pastorDetroit-born progressive gospel singer and producer, leader of Voices of Unity, known for "Sinner's Prayer" and the reality series Preachers of L.A.
Politics · born 1987Mary Sheffieldpolitician, pastor, mayor of DetroitWest Side native, pastor's daughter and youngest-ever council president who in 2025 became the first woman elected mayor of Detroit, taking office in January 2026.
Politics · 1951–2023JoAnn Watsonactivist, radio host, pastor, city councilwomanDetroit-born activist, talk radio host and pastor who served ten years on the Detroit City Council (2003–2013) as an outspoken voice against the state takeover of the city.
Religion · 1870–1948Leo M. FranklinReform rabbi of Temple Beth ElRabbi of Temple Beth El from 1899 to 1941 who built Detroit's leading Reform congregation and two Albert Kahn temples on Woodward Avenue.
Religion · 1911–2000Albert Cleage Jr.minister, Black nationalist leaderDetroit minister who founded the Shrine of the Black Madonna and the Black Christian Nationalist movement, a leading voice of Detroit's Black Power era.
Religion · 1907–1971Prophet Jonespastor, televangelist and faith healerFlamboyant preacher who founded the Church of Universal Triumph, Dominion of God, in Detroit and became the first Black preacher in the city with a weekly TV show.
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.
Religion · 1877–1927Lajos KovácsCatholic priest, editorHungarian Catholic priest who led Delray's Holy Cross Hungarian parish in the 1920s and drove the building of its landmark neo-Gothic church, dedicated in 1925.The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own.