Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s family home in Atlanta’s Vine City neighborhood will now become part of the city’s federal park, which includes the church where he preached and the birth home of the civil rights icon.
The house will be accessible to the public as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, The National Park Foundation announced Thursday, per 11alive.com. The outlet also noted that The National Park Foundation bought the home from the estate of Coretta Scott King then transferred ownership to the National Park Service.
“The acquisition of both Dr. King’s birth home and the family home he shared with Coretta Scott King and their children advances the National Park Foundation’s commitment to telling a more comprehensive American story through national parks. With greater access to Dr. King’s life and legacy, we can learn more about this country’s past and how his work continues to echo through time,” said Will Shafroth, president of the National Park Foundation.
Dr. Bernice King said in a release through the Park Service that they “are very pleased to have worked with the National Park Foundation to ensure that the family home that my siblings and I grew up in will be open and available to the public.”
“My brothers and I are honored to have fulfilled my mother’s wish to allow future generations to know the story of our dad as a father, a husband, a minister, and a civil rights leader,” she added.
Atlanta city councilman Michael Julian Bond, who grew up two doors down from the historic King home, said: “I think this house is worthy of preservation for future Americans to come by and see actually how Dr. Martin Luther King actually lived, where his children played, where he got a respite from the world.”
No word on when the home will be open to the public.
