It was hard not to know Luther Keith in Detroit.
Keith was a stellar journalist, a descendent of a legendary civil rights family and the founder and executive director of ARISE Detroit! for nearly 20 years.
And if that wasn’t enough, Keith was a well-known blues player.
Like the stage name he performed under, he was one bad man.
Keith, the Michigan Hall of Fame journalist and community activist, has died at the age of 74, his family confirmed Wednesday night.
“I will miss you and love you for the rest of my life, LuLu 💔,” his daughter, Erin Keith, posted on his Facebook page Wednesday night.
His cause of death is unknown. Keith is survived by his wife, Jacqueline, and daughter, Erin.
An illustrious career
Keith, a native Detroiter, attended Detroit Cathedral High School and began his career at The Detroit News in 1972, after graduating from the University of Detroit. He was the first Black sportswriter at a Detroit daily newspaper.
It was the start of an illustrious career. Keith became the first Black reporter to cover Lansing politics, before becoming both the newspaper’s first Black business editor and the first to appear on the masthead as an assistant managing editor.
Keith also spearheaded a weekly “On Detroit” section, which highlighted unique stories about the city. The section, which focused on Detroit businesses, neighborhoods, churches, schools and people won numerous honors, including a “Spirit of Detroit” award from the city.
Podcast: Luther Keith talks Detroit
Keith was inducted to the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in 1995.
Vincent McCraw, president of the Detroit Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists who worked with Keith at The Detroit News, said many in Detroit were impacted by Keith’s work.
“Luther lived his life making a difference,” McCraw said.
“As a trailblazing reporter, editor and senior editor, a founding director of a university program training journalists of color and the founder and executive director of a community organization rebuilding Detroit neighborhoods, many of us are beneficiaries of Luther’s work, mentorship and friendship.”
‘He opened doors’
In 1985, Keith took a hiatus from The News to become the first director of the Journalism Institute for Minorities at Wayne State University. He was specifically tapped by Detroit News Editor Ben Burns to run the program.
The first-of-its-kind program was designed to train and bring more journalists of color into newsrooms. Now known as the Journalism Institute for Media Diversity, it is in its 40th year, and counts as alumni numerous journalists and other media professionals, including Detroit Free Press Executive Editor James Hill, Illinois Answers Project Editor-in-Chief Ruby Bailey and former Mayor and Detroit City Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr.
Other graduates of the program have worked at organizations such as the Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, and at nearly every major media outlet in Detroit.
“I can’t even really imagine a Detroit without him,” said institute grad Kim Trent, a former Detroit News reporter who now serves as deputy director for prosperity for the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.
Trent said his faith and support of her changed the trajectory of her life.
“I would not be the professional I am, leader, the Wayne State University booster or the Detroiter without Luther Keith,” Trent said. “He opened doors for me that really allowed me to create a life. He’s always been the most consistent booster for me in my career. My story is the story of countless people in this community. He put his hand and his heart into so many lives.”
Trent added she wrote Keith’s nomination letter for the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, despite pushback from some top editors who thought he was too young.
“(They) didn’t know the impact that he had on so many young journalists like me. He was a giant already and obviously the committee agreed because he was inducted,” said Trent, who also worked with Keith on the Rosa Parks Foundation.Detroit historian Ken Coleman called it a significant loss on multiple fronts. He is mostly intrigued about Keith’s work in Lansing.
‘Renaissance man’
“It’s an incredible loss for the city and the state,” Coleman said. “(Working in Lansing) holds great weight and significance. When you think about Luther growing up in the ’50s, ’60s and early ’70s, seeing a lot of the civil rights gains and then benefiting from those types of gains …”
Coleman also linked him with other prominent journalists, Angelo Henderson and Cliff Russell, who had multiple careers. Keith “wasn’t afraid to approach boundaries.”
“There’s probably a generation of people that don’t even know Luther managed the Sunday edition of the Detroit News for years because they know him from ARISE Detroit!” Coleman said. “They know him as a community advocate and activist. Some people don’t know that he picked up and learned guitar as an adult and parlayed that into recordings and gigs across the city. He was sort of a Renaissance man.”
Keith retired from The News as a columnist in 2005, founding ARISE Detroit!, a nonprofit group with the mission of connecting people to community groups.
The group aimed to launch a new wave of volunteerism for many programs and activities that are struggling with the issues that trouble Detroit ― illiteracy, high school dropout rates, crime and youth violence, drug abuse, domestic abuse, neighborhood blight and unemployment.
ARISE Detroit’s! signature event, Neighborhoods Day in early August, galvanized about 400 community groups at its peak. Last year’s event had about 150 groups participate.
“It is our belief that everyone can play a role and render service, thereby having a greater impact on solving these chronic problems,” Keith said on the ARISE Detroit! website. “Our goal is to unite the entire community — nonprofit organizations, churches, schools, the business community and the media — in an unprecedented call to action.
“This movement is about making a personal commitment to change at a critical time in our city’s history.”
Registration for the 19th annual Neighborhoods Day opened March 1.
ARISE Detroit! Board Director Leslie Graham Andrews called Keith their “fearless leader.”
“It was an honor and privilege to serve with him as we carried forth the vision and mission of ARISE Detroit and Neighborhoods Day,” Graham Andrews wrote on Keith’s Facebook page. “It was also a true joy to watch him having the best time playing the blues. Our hearts are broken as this is truly a profound loss for the world.”
The Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the NAACP Detroit Branch, called Keith a “dedicated, sensitive and heart-centered man.”
“We often talked about Detroit and its challenges and promises,” Anthony said. “From the editorial page of the Detroit News to the oratorical commentary in the Detroit streets, Luther spoke truth to power. Although he is gone physically may the warmth of his spirit ARISE inside each of us. He was indeed a BAAAAD MAN.”
Living life with passion
Outside of all of his community endeavors, he was also known by his stage name, Luther “Badman” Keith, as a blues artist with five albums.
Keith did not pick up an instrument until he was 30. In 1980, Keith went to see legendary blues guitarist Luther Allison perform. He called it a “transformative moment,” and was so inspired by Allison that he purchased a used electric guitar the next week. Blues guitar would become his passion, and he began performing professionally 15 years later.
McCraw, who regularly booked Keith to play the annual Detroit NABJ “Show the Love” event, said many saw a new side of Keith when he began playing the blues.
“When he found his passion playing the guitar and singing the blues, we all found a new way to appreciate him,” McCraw said.
His last gig was at Baker’s Keyboard lounge, on Tuesday night, to honor the induction of his longtime friend and Free Press contributing columnist Keith Owens’ induction into this year’s class of the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame.
A visitation for Keith will be held on Thursday at Kemp Funeral Home at 24585 Evergreen Road in Southfield. Keith’s funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Detroit’s Fellowship Chapel, 7707 Outer Drive. Burial will follow at 3 p.m.
(This story was updated with additional information.)
Detroit Free Press reporter Liam Rappleye contributed to this column.
Darren A. Nichols, named one of Michigan’s most recognized media figures, is a contributing columnist at the Free Press. He can be reached at darren@dnick-media.com or his X (formerly Twitter) handle @dnick12. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters, and we may publish it online and in print.
