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The foyer features art from Africa and Georgia, and the paneling lining the staircase is from the Sapele tree which grows in Nigeria. At present, Freedom Hall’s second floor is utilized as exhibit space honoring Dr. and Mrs. King, Mahatma Gandhi and Rosa Parks.
The Coretta Scott King Peace and Meditation Garden
There will be at least a year of assessments, repairs and restorations before the house can be made accessible to the public, Mr. Shafroth said. This month, the house became the property of the National Park Service, in preparation for opening it up to the public. The King family lived in the house until 1941.[11] It was then converted into a two-family dwelling. The Rev. A. D. Williams King, King Jr's brother, lived on the second floor in the 1950s and early 1960s. Tours of Dr. King's birth home are conducted by the National Park Service.
MLK birth home attracts visitors despite being closed - WRDW
MLK birth home attracts visitors despite being closed.
Posted: Mon, 15 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birth Home
Opposite the church is the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, which continues King’s work. To the east of the church is King’s tomb, in the form of a white marble monument surrounded by a reflection pool. From Interstate 20 East or West, exit at Interstate 75/85 North take exit #248C Freedom Parkway. At the traffic light, turn right onto Boulevard NE, and make another immediate right turn, at the next traffic light, onto John Wesley Dobbs Avenue.
Explore This Park
Registration is required at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park Visitor Center and must be made in person upon arrival. The Coretta Scott King Peace and Meditation Garden features the Coretta Scott King Monument. The Coretta Scott King monument features a beautiful, hand-crafted sculpture of microphones on a mosaic tile plinth.
The King Birth Home is located at 501 Auburn Avenue in the Sweet Auburn Historic District. In 1926, when King's father married Alberta Williams, the couple moved into the house, where King Jr. was born in 1929. Speakers have included presidents of the United States, national and local politicians, and civil rights leaders. Remembrances are also held during Black History Month (February), and on the anniversary of King's April 4, 1968, assassination in Memphis, Tennessee. Due to temporary closure of the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Our Interpretation conducts daily Birth Home Presentations inside of the bookstore nextdoor. Please visit our calendar for our presentation schedule. Groups (school, family reunion, youth, etc.) are limited to signing up for only 3 tour times per day for a total of 45 people. After signing up a group, the group leader is responsible dividing up the group and seeing that the people arrive for their tour on time. On November 25, 1926 Christine married a minister by the name of Michael Luther King at her father's church.
Visitor center
His remains were moved to the tomb, on a plaza between the center and the church. King's gravesite and a reflecting pool are located next to Freedom Hall. After her death, Mrs. King was interred with her husband on February 7, 2006.
Jackie Kennedy, whose own husband had been assassinated only a few years earlier, embraced Coretta Scott King in her bedroom, Rebecca Burns writes in Burial for a King. The house was later used as a rental property by the family, though King’s younger brother, A.D. Shortly after Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in 1968, efforts to restore the house to its appearance when he lived there and to turn it into a museum began. It was donated to the King Center, and the area including the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and it was expanded into the Martin Luther King, Jr. The area has been preserved much as it was during King’s time. A short walk from his home is the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he, his father, and his grandfather wre preachers.
The King Family Home

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta at this home of his maternal grandparents, A.D. When Martin Luther King, Sr. married Alberta Williams, the King family moved into the house on Auburn Avenue where they lived until 1941. The birth home is one block east of Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.
For the next twelve years, he lived here with his grandparents, parents, siblings, other family members, and borders. The home is located in the residential section of “Sweet Auburn”, the center of black Atlanta. The Birth Home of Dr. King may be visited only with a park ranger led tour, which is filled on a first-come, first served basis. Register for the tour at the Information Desk, located in Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site Visitor Center, in person upon arrival to the park.
In total, the buildings included in the site make up 35 acres (0.14 km2). The visitor center contains a museum that chronicles the American Civil Rights Movement and the path of Martin Luther King Jr. The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change includes the burial place of King, and his wife, activist Coretta Scott King. An 1894 firehouse (Fire Station No. 6) served the Sweet Auburn community until 1991, and now contains a gift shop and an exhibit on desegregation in the Atlanta Fire Department. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born January 15, 1929, at 501 Auburn Avenue, the home of his maternal grandparents.