I love Atlanta most during the annual King holiday week.
It gives us a moment reflect and recalibrate how well we’re doing in light of the lofty vision and ideals that Martin Luther King Jr. shared with us in his sermons, speeches and letters.
Sometimes we take for granted Atlanta’s living history as the home of civil rights.
That was reinforced to me on the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 5 when the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation hosted a program featuring the documentary – King in the Wilderness – on the last three years of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life.
It was a day of sad memories as Atlanta marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of its hometown spiritual leader – Martin Luther King Jr. – on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.
At the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, King’s family gathered at King’s crypt to lay a wreath and to commemorate the actual moment of King’s death 50 years ago.
Atlanta celebrated the life and memory of Martin Luther King Jr. this past week. These photos were taken by Kelly Jordan at the King house, the King Center and during the April 9 commemorative march. Click to enlarge each photo:
An exhaustive effort is underway to catapult the international recognition of the modern Civil Rights movement in the South.
Thanks to a grant from the Alabama Department of Tourism, Georgia State University is shepherding the effort to get about a dozen Civil Rights landmarks to be nominated as World Heritage sites.
“Fifty years later we should be at [parity], not because whites in America are doing worse, but because blacks in America are doing better,” said professor Nisha Botchwey, explaining data from the “Measuring the Dream” project.
The Atlanta Public Schools is seeking to cut down 60 trees on a key piece of property in the center of the city.
The trees have been growing on the land that surrounds the former David T. Howard Elementary School from the days when Martin Luther King Jr. attended the elementary school – only a few blocks away from his birth home.
A statue of Martin Luther King Jr. was unveiled Monday morning on the grounds of the State Capitol – exactly 54 years after the slain Civil Rights leader delivered his “I have a dream” speech during the March on Washington.
For Georgia, it was a moment of celebration.
An axis of peace. That’s probably the best way to define the relationship between two of Atlanta’s greatest leaders and their families – the late Martin Luther King Jr. and former President Jimmy Carter.
It is a special multi-layered relationship that keeps building upon a shared foundation of non-violence, human and civil rights. And both MLK Jr. and Carter were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts.
This week’s theme is “A Special Month”
In the wake of MLK by Kelly Jordan
This week’s theme is A Special Month
MLK on Point by Kelly Jordan
Martin Luther King Jr. had a three-pronged mission: eliminate racism, violence and poverty. Andrew Young, one of his lieutenants, said King did not live long enough to fully develop his anti-poverty campaign.
But charismatic leader, John Hope Bryant, has taken up that part of King’s mantle.
This week’s theme is Whole MLK
The Whole MLK by Kelly Jordan
This week’s theme is Whole MLK
Whole MLK by Kelly Jordan
Whole MLK by Kelly Jordan
This week’s theme is “Whole MLK”
Whole MLK by Kelly Jordan
This week’s theme is Whole MLK
Whole MLK by Kelly Jordan
This week’s theme is “Whole MLK”
Whole MLK by Kelly Jordan
This week’s theme is “Whole MLK”
Whole MLK by Kelly Jordan
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