The long-anticipated reconstruction of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Auburn Avenue office in the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge is finally moving forward.
- It will become the newest addition to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park that preserves his birth home, tomb and Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Driving the news: After years of federal lobbying and a more than $10 million fundraising campaign, construction and rehabilitation of the building are scheduled to begin this summer, Edward Bowen, an attorney and developer with the Masons — who still own the building — tells Axios.
Why it matters: Judy Forte, superintendent of the King National Historic Park, told Axios the addition will complete the park’s mandate to “preserve, protect and interpret the place where Dr. King was born, where he lived, where he worked, where he worshipped and where he’s buried.”
- “We had all of those components except for where he worked, outside of where he was co-pastor of Ebenezer.”
The big picture: The Lodge housed many influential African American organizations after its 1940 construction, including the first Black-owned radio station in the country WERD and the headquarters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization King co-founded and that coordinated civil rights protests across the South.
- King kept an office in the building in the 1960s. It was the hub from which he disseminated much of his vision as the SCLC’s first president, including through WERD radio addresses upstairs.
- The SCLC had a dark room and two printing presses on Auburn, where some of its iconic posters including “I am a man” were made.
What’s happening: Bowen told Axios the first floor and basement will be open to the public, the second floor will be leased out and the third floor will remain Masonic space.
- The Park Service will conduct oral histories and source historical furnishings and books to “interpret” the space and recreate the SCLC headquarters and King’s office.
Catch…
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