Religion / Civil rights & activism
William T. Cunningham
1930–1997 · Catholic priest, co-founder of Focus: HOPE
Detroit priest who, after the 1967 uprising, co-founded Focus: HOPE with Eleanor Josaitis to fight racism and poverty through food aid and job training.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
- Also known as
- Father Bill Cunningham
- Detroit years
- 1930–1997
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
William T. Cunningham was born in Detroit in 1930 and entered Sacred Heart Seminary in 1943, at about 13. After ordination he spent five years as a parish priest, and in 1961 he joined the seminary faculty as an English professor. The 1967 Detroit uprising, which he saw firsthand, convinced him that the church had to act on the city's racial divide. On March 6, 1968, with suburban homemaker and activist Eleanor Josaitis, he founded Focus: HOPE, a civil and human rights organization in the city's northwest side. It began with food programs for mothers, children and seniors and grew into a nationally known center for machinist training and engineering education that helped thousands of Detroiters, many of them Black, into skilled industrial jobs. Cunningham, also pastor of the Church of the Madonna, was a blunt, charismatic advocate. He received many civic honors, including the Detroit News Michiganian of the Year award, and died in 1997 after cancer surgery.
Highlights
- Co-founded Focus: HOPE on March 6, 1968
- English professor at Sacred Heart Seminary from 1961
- Built Focus: HOPE's machinist and engineering training programs
- Detroit News Michiganian of the Year
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
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.
Founded · 1968–1997
Focus: HOPE
The civil rights and job-training organization he co-founded in 1968; its campus on Oakman Boulevard still runs food and education programs.
Studied here · 1943–1950s, 1961–1960s
Sacred Heart Major Seminary
Detroit's seminary, where he studied from 1943 and later taught English.