Martin Luther King, Junior and his wife Coretta Scott King are buried together in an above ground grave across the street from the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Burial Place Of Martin Luther King, Junior And Coretta Scott King
Category: Martin Luther King, Junior
Martin Luther King, Junior’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail”
In 1863, Martin Luther King, Junior, along with members of the Southern Christian Conference, were arrested for protesting segregation in the city of Birmingham. When brought to his cell, many African American men and women cheered being in jail in his presence and song songs to cheer themselves up.
Martin Luther King, Junior, wrote the “Letter From Birmingham Jail” which advocated for a more stern resistance to ending segregation.
The Bombing Of Martin Luther King, Junior’s Family Home In Montgomery, Alabama
On 9:15PM on January 30th, 1956, Martin Luther King, Junior’s family home on 309 South Jackson Street in Montgomery, Alabama was bombed by a white supremacist. Days before the bombing, Martin Lither King, Junior, got a call demanding that he and his family leave Montgomery, Alabama. Since King and his gmail refused to leave, the white supremacist bombed the house,m. Fortunately, no one was injured by the bombing.
After the bombing, the King family had floodlights installed after the home that they lived in from 1954 to 1960.
Presently, the house serves as the Dexter Parsonage Museum, which goes over the history of the twelve pastors who lived at the home from 1920 to 1992.
Civil Rights Activist Rosa Louise McCauley Parks
On February 13, 1913, Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her parents James and Leona McCauley both we’re former slaves were adamant advocates for civil rights. In 1932, Rosa Louise McCauley married NAACP member Raymond Parks, and changed her name to Rosa Louise McCauley Parks.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, on her way home from work, refused to give up her bus seat and was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama. The arrest of Rosa Parks launched Martin Luther King, Junior’s Montgomery Bus Boycott.
In 1956, after the boycott ended, Rosa Parks took a bus ride for her first time since she was arrested in an unsegregated bus.
In 2015, 60 years after Rosa Parks was arrested, a historical marker commemorating the civil rights icon and the Montgomery Bus Boycott was established in Montgomery, Alabama.
The Burial Place Of Martin Luther King, Junior And Coretta Scott King
Civil Rights leader, Martin Luther King, Junior was buried in Atlanta, Georgia, near the Ebinizer church, where his father used to be a pastor and were Martin Luther King, Junior delivered his last sermon at, after he was assassinated by a white supremacist.
On January 15, 1982, Martin Luther King’s gravesite, his birth home, and the Ebenezer Baptist Church became part of the Martin Luther King, Junior Memorial Park.
In 2006, after Coretta Scott King’s passing, she was laid to rest next to Martin Luther King, Junior above ground, surrounded by a pool of water.
The Birth Home Of Martin Luther King, Junior
On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King, Junior was born in a home in Atlanta, Georgia. The site of his birth is now part of the Martin Luther King, Junior Memorial Park.
The Ebenezer Baptist Church – Site Where Martin Luther King, Senior Pastored And Where His Son Gave His Last Sermon
In 1885, Ebenezer Baptist Church was founded by Pastor John Andrew Parker, a former slave, in Atlanta, Georgia as a predominantly African American congregation.
Martin Luther King, Senior the father of Martin Luther King, Junior, began to preach at the church in the 1900s.
King’s son, Martin Luther King, Junior, was offered to pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. However, his son turned down the offer and became the pastor at Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church.
Martin Luther King, Junior utilized the pulpit at Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church to accelerate the modern civil rights movement that had been iniciated by events such as Port Chicago, the Tuskegee Airmen, and other events in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
On Febuary 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Junior gave his last sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Presently, the Ebenezer Baptist Church, is part of the Martin Luther King, Junior Memorial Park.
Martin Luther King Junior Day – At The African American Museum And Library Of Oakland
Annually the African American Museum and Library of Oakland, formerly the East Bay Negro Historical Society, hosts a documentary series on the civil rights movement that they display on the federal holiday that honors Martin Luther King, Junior.
The MLK Research and Education Institute of Stanford Screens New Documentary, “I Am MLK, Jr.”
The Martin Luther King, Junior Research and Education Institute screened a new documentary on MLK called, “I Am MLK, Jr.” which included commentary from Clarence Jones, MLK’s former attorney and speechwriter, Congressman John Robert Lewis, Jesse Louis Jackson, Senior, various civil rights leaders and Clayborne Johnson the director of the MLK Education and Research Insititue. This documentary took six months to produce and will be featured on HBO.
After documentary was screened, the announcement of of a new endowment honoring Clarence Benjamin Jones was made.
The MLK Library of San Jose 50 Years after the Assassination of MLK
On March 1, 2018 I had the opportunity to visit the Martin Luther King Library of San Jose, nearly 50 years since he was assassinated at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, to tour the several exhibits they had on MLK, W.E.B. Du Bois, the case Brown vs. Board of Education and the overall Civil Rights movement in America. The MLK Library is akin to the San Francisco Public Library since both have several different artistic and historical exhibits on multiple floors.
In addition to the various exhibits the MLK library holds the John Steinbeck Center, an institution that honors the late author from the city of Salinas. The center exhibited several women who are recognized by the center, including civil rights icon Ruby Bridges. Stienbeck had written a book, “Travels with Charley” which was about Ruby Bridges integrating into a white school in the deep south in the 1960s when she was only six years old.
Persian American author, Jasmin Darznik, spoke at her book signing event at the John Steinbeck Center on the fifth floor of the library. Darznik moved from Tehran to America when she was 5 years old. Her first is called, “Song of a Captive Bird” which is novel about a Persian poet. She plans on writing another book about San Francisco in the 1920s.
After I left the book signing I saw the several books on display regarding “Bloody Sunday”, Black athletes protesting segregation, Justice Thurgood Marshall and various other civil rights icons. Lastly, I saw a gallery of silk poster displays of protests that occurred during the 1960s. Lovely to see a library that honors the legacy of MLK and civil rights activists so well.
Hamilton Historical Records 