Photo: Vino Wong / Atlanta Journal Constitution
The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site is an unusual conservation project. It honors the memory of the civil rights leader while it seeks to rehabilitate his former neighborhood, a thriving center of African-American commerce and culture in the early decades of the 20th century.
Which explains why a vintage Studebaker was parked outside 530 Auburn Avenue in Atlanta yesterday, as that home was officially added to the park in a 1930s-syle celebration. Many of the 13 properties TPL has helped add to the park have been rehabilitated and serve as homes today.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution carried a story by Ernie Suggs:
In a world of ironies, the latest piece of property to become an official part of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site was birthed in conflict.
In 1936, a woman named Jettie Nowell purchased the rambling two story home at 530 Auburn Avenue. It was right down the street from both Ebenezer Baptist Church and the home of the church’s pastor, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr. who lived in tidy yellow house with his wife and three little children.
But 10 minutes after the real estate agent sold the home to Nowell, he sold it to another family.
“Two people bought the same house at the same time,” said Gail Goodwin, the great-granddaughter of Nowell. “So that night they both came to claim it. My family ended up sleeping inside the house and other family – all of them – laid out mattresses and slept in the front yard.”
A judge finally settled the matter and the Nowell family has lived in the home ever since.
“That 10 minutes saved us,” Goodwin said. “That is why we have this legacy today.”
Read on at the Atlanta Journal Constitution
More information on the Georgia pages of TPL’s website
