Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site: Featured property in the National Register of Historic Places

Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site

The Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia includes the house where the famed African American Baptist Minister, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Civil Rights leader lived until he was 12.

The house stands in the vital historic African American community of Atlanta’s Auburn Avenue neighborhood. Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929–April 4, 1968), was born in a two-story Queen Anne style house at 501 Auburn Avenue, in a neighborhood known as ‘Sweet Auburn.’ It was here that King, observing the life around him and the impact of segregation upon the community and his family, saw the importance of the church in African American life. His childhood experiences while living here prepared him for his adult role in leading the Civil Rights movement against segregation and discrimination.

Martin Luther King, Jr., at the March on Washington
United States Information Agency photograph

The Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site lies within the Sweet Auburn Historic District. Concentrated along a short mile and a half of Auburn Avenue, the Sweet Auburn Historic District reflects the history, heritage and achievements of Atlanta's African Americans. Like other African American communities throughout the country, Sweet Auburn's history was intricately tied to the residential patterns forced on African Americans during the early 20th century--the result of restrictive laws in southern states which enforced segregation of the races, known as Jim Crow laws. It was here that many African Americans established businesses, congregations, and social organizations. Martin Luther King, Jr. recalled growing up among both African American professionals and laborers.

From an early age, King observed African Americans succeeding within the constraints of a segregated society. His father’s ministry gave the family many contacts with African American leaders, including clergymen, educators, and businessmen. King’s background in the African American Christian church also helped him to develop a moral basis for opposing segregation. Christian precepts of community, the redemptive power of suffering, and love for enemies provided the basis for King’s philosophy of nonviolent resistance to discriminatory laws and customs—later the mature King would also study the nonviolent resistance methods of Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, even going as far as visiting Gandhi’s family in India. As a young boy King attended the Young Street and David T. Howard elementary schools, both segregated, and received discriminatory treatment at downtown stores, movie theaters and restaurants. King observed the efforts of his father and others to resist the treatment of African Americans—both his father and grandfather worked to register African American voters. King’s father helped defeat Atlanta school bond issues until they provided for Atlanta’s first public high school for African Americans, the Booker T. Washington High School. Martin Luther King, Sr. was also a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and helped lead efforts to equalize the pay of African American and white school teachers and to desegregate elevators in the Atlanta courthouse.

Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking at the March on Washington, 8/28/1963
Photo courtesy of National Archives

Martin Luther King Jr. excelled as a student and graduated from Atlanta's Morehouse College in 1948. In this same year he was ordained at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Following his ordination, he became Assistant Pastor of Ebenezer. He later studied at the Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, then graduate studies at the University of Boston. In 1954, King became the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Following Rosa Parks' refusal to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Martin Luther King, Jr., led the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott from 1955 to 1956 (381 days.) In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. He moved back to Atlanta in 1960 and was co-pastor with his father at the Ebenezer Baptist Church while still President of the SCLC. Martin Luther King, Jr., worked tirelessly to assure the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He was arrested 30 times for his participation in civil rights activities and delivered some of the most famous speeches of the 20th century including his speech at the March on Washington in 1963, his acceptance speech of the Nobel Peace Prize, his last sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, and his final "Mountaintop" speech in Memphis. King was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was helping striking sanitation workers.

501 Auburn Avenue
Historic American Building Survey photograph HABS GA,61-ATLA,48

The house at 501 Auburn Avenue is a two-story, single-family home, it has a one-story partial front and side porch with scroll cut woodwork trim, two porthole windows, a shingled gabled end, and a side bay. The porch sits on an enclosed brick foundation. Restored by the National Park Service, the house incorporates a number of Queen Anne elements. Dr. King was born in an upstairs middle room on January 15, 1929 and lived here until 1941. This traditionally African American neighborhood of several blocks in Atlanta includes Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth home, the Ebenezer Baptist Church where he was a pastor, and his gravesite.

The Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site, administered by the National Park Service, includes King's birth home, church and grave. The National Park Service's Visitor Center, at 450 Auburn Ave. features exhibits about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Civil Rights movement. The park is open daily from 9:00am to 5:00pm; from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day open until 6:00 pm; closed Thanksgiving Day, December 25, and January 1. Call 404-331-5190, or visit the website at http://www.nps.gov/malu/ for more information. The surrounding almost 70-acre Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site and Preservation District includes the Sweet Auburn Historic District.

Feature image on homepage from the U.S. Department of State.

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