ATLANTA, Ga. - In 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his household moved into a house on Sundown Avenue in northwest Atlanta.
The 2-story, four-bedroom house was bought by the Nationwide Parks Service in 2019 and is present process renovations. Ultimately, it is going to be open for the general public to go to.
Elmira J. Williams says lots of people learn about that house on Sundown Avenue, and Dr. King’s beginning house on Auburn Avenue. However she lived subsequent door to him as a toddler on Johnson Avenue, which is now generally known as John Lewis Freedom Parkway.
“All people is aware of that he lived on Sundown. However earlier than he lived on Sundown, he lived on Johnson Avenue, which was across the nook from me,” Williams stated.
Now, Williams is a affected person at JenCare Senior Medical Middle and not lives in her childhood house. However she fondly remembers attending church at Ebeneezer Baptist Church, being taught trip Bible college by MLK’s sister, and even trick-or-treating at his home along with her personal sister.
“Mrs. King at all times had good sweet. She was a really nice girl. At all times had good sweet. We knew if we went round there, we have been going to get good sweet,” Williams stated.
She additionally credit Dr. King with serving to her father change into one among Atlanta’s first black cops.
“I believe Dr. King was instrumental in having individuals resolve that it was time for blacks to be represented and my father was one of many first eight,” Williams stated. “In these days the black policemen couldn’t arrest whites, they didn’t have a squad automobile, they usually needed to stroll their beat. They didn’t go into the police precinct, they needed to change garments at Butler Avenue Y.”
However over time, issues progressed in Atlanta and throughout the nation because of Dr. King’s peaceable management.
“We’ve come a good distance. And I'm wondering if he would’ve been our first black president had he lived,” Williams requested. “We checked out him as our president. You understand, we revered him.”