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MLK Streets in the US for National Geographic.
elias williams
Apr 17, 2018
Image #1 - Harlem, New York: Dancers in artist Ebony Golden's "125th and Freedom" performance proceed down the thoroughfare. Part protest and part parade, the choreographed production along what is also known as 125th Street explores migration, gentrification, and emancipation in a society that, in King's words, puts profits over people. Harlem has long been a hub of black art, life, and culture in America. On September 20, 1958 Dr. Martin Luther King was stabbed by Izola Ware Curry with a letter opener, nearly missing his heart, after a book signing at L.M. Blumstein's department store, formerly located at 230 W. 125th St., near Seventh Ave. In 1984, 125th street was co-named after Dr. King from 1st Avenue to 12th Avenue
Image #2 - Memphis, Tennessee: The Wm. C Ellis & Sons Machine Shop, slated for redevelopment, at the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Front Street. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis in support of striking African American city sanitation workers. The workers had staged a walkout on February 11, 1968, to protest unequal wages and working conditions imposed by then-mayor Henry Loeb. On April 3, 1968, Dr. King returned to Memphis to deliver what would be his last speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop", at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters). On the following day, King was assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Motel. On April 4, 2012, 44 years after his death, the city renamed a 1-mile stretch of Linden Avenue in his name. #MLK50
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