We never get spring break quite right. We keep moving our location further South, but the cold finds us. On a very cold morning we headed out of Atlanta with a stop at the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic Site. It encompasses most of the area that was the stomping ground of childhood of Martin Luther King, Jr. You will see the row of houses of the more prosperous members in the neighborhood where he grew up and the houses across the street that were modest in comparison.
When he was growing up in Atlanta, Jim Crow laws were everywhere and were legally enforced by the residents. Segregation was in full swing and blacks were threatened with inequality. It was systemic problem that riddled Atlanta. Despite what was going on all around Dr. King, he grew up in a middle class household with strong leadership examples. His family was a loving family that supported and lifted each other up. They believed the world around them could and would change. He would need this support to get him through his choices he would make as an adult. He was introduced to segregation at a very young age and learned the arbitrary limitations that were put on him and his family because of the color of his skin.
The park encompasses about four square blocks, which are the heart of his childhood. These are the streets that wrote his story as a child. His childhood home is the only exhibit you need to plan accordingly to visit. The house is only visited when you are in a guided tour provided by one of the rangers. It is free and the tickets are distributed on a first come first serve basis. No, we didn’t get to go inside the house. No, it would have been close to impossible for us to achieve this goal. If you aren’t able to plan your trip to be there at the opening time of 8am, it is still worth a trip to the historic site.
The movie inside the visitor center will give you a brief over view of his early years and a look into the house. It is a narrow small house, as were many houses from this era, but that is why the visiting numbers are limited. The house is accessible via a ramp into the rear of the house and there is a chair lift up to the second floor. Not all historic homes have this type of accessibility to the second floor.
Martin Luther King Jr. was born in this house and lived the first 12 years of his life in this house. The house was originally purchased by Dr. King’s maternal grandfather in 1909. HIs father moved in when he married Dr. King’s mother and followed in the footsteps of his father-in-law by becoming the pulpit minister at Ebenezer Baptist Church. It is decorated and restored to the Dr. King’s childhood with furnishings from the 1930s and 40s. Very few pieces are from the immediate family and just represent the time he occupied the house. The do have a set of the dishes from his family on the dinning table.
Ebenezer Baptist Church was founded in 1886, but the church where Dr. King and his father preached was completed in 1922. It is the church that his grandfather Williams helped establish. It was the heart of the community and where Dr. King learned that he needed to see past segregation and dream of a world where all were equal. His grandfather spoke of taking pride in community and save and buy land. They needed to invest in their future and show that they were equal in commerce and worth.
This is the church where they held Dr. King’s funeral. Dr. King’s body was transported through the city and was laid to rest here. He was transported in a humble wooden cart that represented his humility and his sacrifice for the least of man. The cart, adorned with flowers and wreaths is permanently in the Visitor Center across the street.
The church today as been preserved and is open to all to view and hear recorded speeches from Martin Luther King Jr. I absolutely love the quiet and solitude of old churches. The history and the whispers that fill the walls. The light pierces the colored glass and cuts through the darkness of the hall. Even with my precocious and antsy kids there is a peace in a place like this. The echo of Dr. King’s voice demands the attention of everyone that enters. It is an authoritative voice that quiets and focuses the distracted.
There is a new, larger Ebenezer church directly across the street from the old established church. It is needed to hold the large active congregation that still exists. It is a vibrant congregation that carries on the spirit of community and family.
Between Dr. King’s house and Ebenezer Church is the King Center. It has a low profile and is very unassuming with straight concrete walls and flat roofs. It is two stories but seems to sink into the landscape. The reflecting pool flows between the buildings. It is almost the width of the building and runs almost the whole length of the block. At the end of the shallow dips in the pool are the final resting spots of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. Right in front of their markers is an eternal flame that burns to remind us of all they for the surrounding community and how Dr. King changed the world.
We parked in the visitor parking that was off of John Wesley Dobbs Ave NE and Boulevard NE. It is a little tricky navigating where to park because the library is right next door and the parking lot adjacent to the library is not where you park. We landed up doing a couple of laps around the area before getting our bearings and figuring out the proper place to park. There is a 500 foot walk from the parking lot to the visitor center that crosses a Irwin St NE. It was the coldest walk of the day with the wind wiping through the area. It isn’t the safest entrance but vehicles didn’t seem to passing through this area too fast. There is a clearly marked walkway with vegetation along the route. The entrance to the visitor center doesn’t face the main road but along the walkway from the parking lot. You turn right to enter the building. The visitor center is one story and easily accessible by wheelchair.
The visitor center is a great place to start your journey at the historic site. It is an introduction to the time and challenges that Dr. King faced in his life as well as all the other black people living during that time period. It is a much different world because of his willingness to sacrifice his life to change the disparaging challenges and hurdles in front of him. It is a great introduction to any child that wants to learn about segregation and the inequality that once existed in our country. It is a much better world that we live in and that is very apparent after five minutes in this museum.
As you enter the building there is a visitor desk to the right where you can obtain tickets for the tour of the birth home of Dr. King. They is also a map of the area and you can receive directions and any information you may need to navigate. Don’t forget to pick up the Junior Ranger booklet, it really helps develop a discussion with your children about Dr. King and his childhood development. The movie about Dr. King’s childhood is to the right of the front of the visitor center desk. Like most movies at national parks, it is about twenty minutes long and runs continuously throughout the day. I love these movies. It sets a perspective of this park and all parks that you visit. They don’t always hit all the points you wish they would hit but they usually do a good job. This one gives a great historic background to explain what and where to see it.
Straight ahead when you walk into the building is a small hands-on exhibit with drawers to open and close. They show the differences of life now and then. Past this exhibit is the restrooms. Yes, we always know where the bathrooms are located and we always make at least one visit and possible two. There is also a drinking fountain.
To the left of the entrance is the main historic exhibit. This area outlines in decades Dr. King’s life. They are set in large vignettes to enter and learn about the time and places that influenced Dr. King and how he in return influenced them. Down the middle of the room a road rises from out of the ground and heads up towards the windows. Along the road are men and women of all different races and limited abilities marching towards the light ahead. My kids loved having their picture taken in this setting. They probably don’t fully understand the significance of this sculpture but they will reflect back and understand later in life. In the right hand back corner of this exhibit sits the cart that carried Dr. King’s body through the streets of Atlanta.
There is another room to the right of this exhibit, which is a changing exhibit which dives deeper into the history of segregation and the fight for equality. During our visit, it was an emphasis on President Jimmy Carter, who is also a native of Georgia.
When you exit the building you need to head away from the Ebenezer Church along Auburn to reach Dr. King’s birth home. It is a short walk to the historic residential area. You will pass Historic Fire Station No. 6, which was the first racially integrated fire station in Atlanta. It served Atlanta for over 100 years and closed in 1991. It wasn’t the first fire station to have black fire fighters but it was the first to be truly integrated with black and white fire fighters working side-by-side. One has to wonder what the world would have looked like if Abraham Lincoln hadn’t been assassinated. Booth changed the world for the worst and that was his goal.
It is an easy park to visit with kids. The visitor center is very kid friendly and the noise level doesn’t travel because of the break up of the rooms. There are a lot of outdoor areas to walk around but you are also walking along a lot of main streets. Please watch your kids and pay mind to the traffic signals and crosswalks. This site is outside the city but in Atlanta where people live and work. It is a great introduction to segregation and prejudice with out overwhelming a child. It is a celebration of a man and the childhood that modeled him. It puts his life into perspective and you see where he learned to have strength and to stand up for what one beliefs.
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