Footsteps: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I like to visit and trace the steps of historical figures I admire (& even some I don’t) to either feel closer to the ones I do or try to understand better the ones I don’t, and it’s all in the pursuit of knowledge. Knowledge of our history - especially American history.
I started writing this to post it on Facebook today - MLK Day 2024 - but as I did I realized it would be a great blog post. And then I realized it would be a great series of blog posts since I’ve done this with so many historical figures. So what better way to kick it off than Dr. King on MLK Day? Some of the entries in the footsteps series will be woefully incomplete - but this is a work in progress and I still have so much to see. Some will depend on how long ago I made these trips, whether I can find the photos, geographic proximity of the subjects to where I live or traveled and when certain stories in our history came to my attention in my reading and my travels. I hope you enjoy these and are inspired to follow some yourself! If you’ve been to some spots in particular you would recommend I would love to hear all about them in the comments.
This year I added a couple of key spots tracing Dr. King’s footsteps / memorials, so here’s my pursuit of MLK so far on his day…
I’m including photos of 4 spots here: 1) The diner where (I believe) he met RFK in the Mississippi Delta, 2) A photo I took 15 (?) years ago of the spot where he stood on the Lincoln Memorial steps to deliver his “I Have A Dream Speech”, 3) The MLK National Memorial in D.C. that I visited this year, and 4) Little Rock Central High School that I stopped at last weekend on the way to Houston (more on that roadtrip in the upcoming blog post I have on deck).
Country Platter, Too - Cleveland, MS
So I’m totally perplexed about a couple things here. We drove up the Mississippi Delta in 2017 much like Robert F. Kennedy did in 1967 when he discovered firsthand an appalling level of poverty. I have to say to my eyes it didn’t look to exactly be thriving now either. I stopped at the Country Platter, Too which at the time I had read that Dr. King dined there with RFK when it was called Lily’s Cafe. It was closed so I just snapped a photo. I cannot for the life of me find any reference to this online now to link to. There are plenty of references to the fact that both MLK and RFK did both indeed eat there, but I can’t find anything that says they ate there together. I swear I read they did - I’m not making that up. If anyone can help me with this please do. Also… I know I originally took the photo in Snapchat as part of a Snap Story I was doing on the trip at the time. I have no idea why that little yellow digital rectangle is appearing in my photo. I’ve saved other photos from Snapchat and haven’t seen this effect turn up. Oh well… still cool - still a diner where Dr. King ate in Mississippi!
Steps Of The Lincoln Memorial
Standing at this spot gives you chills. I saw a couple families hold hands in a circle to pray around the spot where Dr. King stood to give his historic “I Have A Dream” speech. Pretty moving to imagine that scene and know that something that significant happened on that exact spot! Also probably taken with an older smartphone with a very average camera lol… maybe 15 years ago?
MLK National Memorial, Washington D.C.
I finally made my way to the MLK memorial in D.C. on a roadtrip there this summer. It’s amazing.
Little Rock Central High School
Last but not least, Dr. King’s connection to Little Rock Central High School and the Little Rock Nine starts with his response to the integration of the high school on September 4th, 1957 including his communication with President Eisenhower and the telegram he sent to the people involved on the ground in Little Rock. It continued with his attendance at the graduation there the following spring in 1958. Pulling around the corner to see that high school standing there in a Little Rock neighborhood just blocks from downtown was something else after seeing all the images of that historic, intense and downright scary day with what those brave 9 African American students had to endure to simply attend the high school. Another spot where you can get chills making that walk up those steps. There is more to see there but our destination was Houston and we were pressed for time. It’s a National Park Site but still an operating high school.
Dr. King sat (largely unnoticed which I think is pretty cool) with Ernest Green’s family at graduation - the first of the Little Rock Nine to graduate. There is a great article on this here.
Here is an article about the day the Little Rock Nine integrated the school (9/4/1957) and MLK’s communications with President Eisenhower.
And lastly the telegram MLK sent offering advice to local minister Roland Smith and Daisy Bates, president of the Arkansas NAACP and advisor to the Little Rock Nine. It’s fantastic.
So that’s where I’m at so far. So many more sites to see - Atlanta is obviously a big one. I’ve spent time in Atlanta but I haven’t been to his home. I also want to see the museum in Memphis at the motel and several others. Once again some of these posts in my footsteps series may be more complete than others and I’d love to come back to these posts and update them as I go. Hopefully we can all learn a thing or two together!
M10 Social is owned by Doug Cohen in West Bloomfield, MI and provides social media training and digital marketing services from the Frameable Faces Photography studio Doug owns with his wife Ally. He can be reached there at tel:248-790-7317, by mobile at tel:248-346-4121 or via email at mailto:doug@frameablefaces.com. You can follow Doug’s band Vintage Playboy at their Facebook page here. You can also visit our other business Detroit Jerky at the website www.DetroitJerkyLLC.com!
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