Martin Luther King Jr Historic Site (03/04/22)

Atlanta is an important city in the Civil Rights movement, and so we definitely wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to see some of the sites and to learn more.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Historic site is made up of several locations of great importance to Dr. King and to the Civil Rights movement. They were made into a National Historic Site and are maintained by the National Park Service. The Historic site, which is 35 acres, was opened in 1980

So, off we went. We decided to go to the Visitor’s Center First. Alas, it was closed. Spoiler: This will become a theme of the day.

Fortunately, before we left, the kids and I watched a YouTube video (we watched this one, if you’re interested) that gave us an overview of his life, work, and legacy. And it was a good thing we did, it was much more meaningful to see these sites with some context . We wouldn’t have gotten as much out of our visit otherwise.

Visitor’s center

There were some other spots we could drop by and see, so we went across the street to the next site.

The Ebenezer Baptist Church

MLK was a co-pastor at this church (his father and grandfather were both pastors there also. It became an important spiritual center of the civil rights movement.

MLK’s mother was actually shot and killed inside this church (along with some others). I actually hadn’t known that until we read one of the signs on the outside of the church. So sad. His poor father.

Unfortunately, we were unable to go inside.

Center for Non-Violent Change

A short walk up the sidewalk brings you to the Center for Non-Violent Social Change, which was founded by MLK’s wife, Coretta. It also happens to be the place where both he and his wife are entombed.

As was typical of this outing, the museum was closed. 🙁 But the gift shop was open! So we went and and wandered and got a couple stickers and postcards and a book.

Historic Fire Station No. 6

Next up was Historic Fire Station No. 6. It was the first fire station in Atlanta to be desegregated, when it hired a group of Black fire fighters. It is located on the walk from MLK’s childhood home to the Ebenezer church. (Again, it was closed)

MLK’s Birth Home

Eventually we made it to the home that MLK Jr. was born in and that he lived in until the age of 12.

Again, no tours were being conducted, but we could go up on the porch, and there were a couple of park rangers outside, sharing information and answering questions.

I think my favorite anecdote that our ranger shared was about a time that MLK, as a young child, put on a cape, and then took a running jump out of the little window above the front door. He wasn’t injured because he managed to grab the rain gutter at the last moment. I can’t help but think that there was some divine intervention in that.

Martin Luther King’s Neighborhood

All around the birth home, the National Park service purchased and restored a bunch of houses (all of which are rented out as private residences). They were all restored so that they would be accurate of the time period during which MLK lived here.

The shotgun houses were especially interesting, at least to me. I’ve never seen houses like this before (#westerner) They are long, narrow, and basically one room wide with no hallways. So, to get to the back of the house, you have to walk through each of the rooms before. They were called shotgun houses because theoretically a bullet shot through the front door could exit the back door.

The interiors have all been modernized, but the exteriors are all aimed at preserving their historic nature.

At this point, we had basically exhausted what we could do. So we started making our way back to the car. We stopped at a playground that we saw along the way, and the kids played for a minute. And I had a lovely chat with another mom that was sitting there. And that was that!