A Legacy of Peace at the King National Historical Park
April 2022
Honoring King's Spirit of Nonviolence
While we were in Atlanta, we visited the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park. The park is located in the heart of the Sweet Auburn district, a lively Black neighborhood. Although we didn’t get to see the fire station or Dr. King’s birth home, we did visit several important landmarks.
We paused quietly by the tomb of Dr. and Mrs. King at the Reflecting Pool. The inscription there was powerful, stating that justice should roll down like water. We also saw the Eternal Flame, which still burns in King’s honor. We couldn’t enter the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, but we stopped at the ‘Behold’ monument across from it. The bronze statue shows a figure raising a child to the sky, a symbol of an African tradition of lifting a newborn toward the heavens.
Though short on time, we visited the park’s main museum, which gave a detailed look at Dr. King’s legacy and the Civil Rights Movement. Learning how Gandhi and Christian faith inspired his nonviolent philosophy clarified what I admire about the Black community, specifically their history of peaceful protest against oppression.
