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Significance of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta

The national/International significance of

Ebenezer Baptist Church,

Auburn Avenue, the King Center

and Raphael Warnock

Heather Gray

December 4, 2022

Justice Initiative

Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr.

Introduction

This is an article about the profoundly important and influential local, national and international area where the US Senator Raphael Warnock's church - Ebenezer Baptist - is located and where he serves as the pastor. There is no area in the United States, and/or the world, with such a remarkable present day and historical achievement for justice and civil rights than the Auburn Avenue area thanks to the remarkable advocacy for justice by the King family, and colleagues, in all their organizing and work for civil and humans rights the 19th, 20th and 21rst centuries.

Learning about US Civil and Human Rights Issues

I, Heather Gray, am of European descent in that I have so-called ‘white’ skin. I am originally from Alberta, Canada, but my father brought our family to Atlanta, Georgia in the United States in the 1950’s to teach at Emory University. This began my life’s journey. My first day in the United States I saw, for the first time as a child, someone of color. This was a woman I saw outside the window of where we were staying on the Emory University campus. She began my life’s journey as it didn’t take me long to realize that white supremacy reigned supreme in the southern part of the United States. Yes, the 1950’s were revolutionary for me. People refer to the woman I saw as my 'burning bush' experience and they would be right!

Fast forward to 1968. I left the United States for 5 years and came back in 1972 after living in Australia and then Singapore. My husband was an Australian diplomat.

However, prior to leaving the United States in 1968, the year Dr. King was assassinated, I had been asked by a friend of mine to attend an event at Atlanta’s Spelman College, the first week of April in 1968, and spend the night on the campus after the lecture. As fate would have it, Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, that very week, and when I woke up on the Spelman campus that weekend Dr. King's body was in state in the Spelman College Sisters Chapel. I stood in line to pay my respects to the great man. Here's briefly what I wrote about seeing him at the Chapel.

Martin Luther King

Sisters Chapel, Spelman Campus

April 7, 1968

by Heather Gray (1996)

The line moved in unison up the stairs and through the chapel door.

No one spoke.

I could barely lift my feet.

It was April, the onset of Spring.

I was shivering.

His body was still.

His eyes were closed.

He was peaceful.

His compassionate voice was no more.

I wanted to run.

Yet, so desperately did not want to leave.

What now? I thought. What now?

That week, I then also drove for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to pick up people at the airport who were coming to Atlanta for the King funeral. This included the renowned activist Ralph Bunch who was representing the United Nations. I also marched through the Atlanta streets in the King funeral service entrouage.

Coming Back to US in 1972

When I came back to the United States, in the latter part of 1972, I knew I needed to learn about what had been happening in the United States since I have been away. I also knew if I was to learn anything about what had been happening in Atlanta and the United States overall it was by attending the services at Ebenezer Baptist Church. That is precisely what I did. I sat in the balcony of Ebenezer Baptist Church for four weeks where I listened and learned. Reverend Joseph Roberts was the pastor at the time and I then joined the Ebenezer Church and its choir – often as the only white person in the choir group.

The original Ebenezer Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue

Working for Coretta Scott King

Starting in 1984, I was fortunate to work for Coretta Scott King at the "Martin Luther, Jr. King Center for Nonviolent Social Change" in Atlanta, first as a researcher and then as the Director of the Non-Violent Program. There were countless memorable experiences for me while working for Mrs. King.

In the mid-1980s, then, I was attending many meetings with Mrs. King, along with other staff members, King Center board members, and local and national civil rights leaders, about the efforts around the country to celebrate the first King Day holiday and what we would do in Atlanta. Frequent visitors were, of course, civil rights legendary leaders such as John Lewis, Andrew Young, Bernard Lafayette, Joseph Lowery and James Orange, to name a few. One of our frequent visitors was also Walter Fauntroy, who was the delegate to the US House of Representatives from the District of Columbia's at-large district. Many of them were always coming and going consistently to the Center regardless of holiday preparations, but to say this was an exciting time is putting it mildly.

When the King Holiday was first celebrated in 1986, and as part of the King week celebration, Mrs. King asked me to organize an 'International Anti-Apartheid Conference' to be held at the King family's Church, Ebenezer Baptist, located next to the King Center. I did precisely that and it was a powerful event with countless anti-apartheid national activists in the country attending and speaking. You could just feel the excitement in the air both about the King holiday itself, in addition to this representation of the important collaboration of the international movement for justice.

Importance of the King Center, Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Auburn Avenue Area Overall: Much of the history the US Civil Rights Movement is centered on Auburn Avenue

For those of you not in Atlanta, I want to share something about the King Center and the surrounding neighborhood. This is also relevant to understanding the role and importance of Senator Raphael Warnock, who is now, and importantly, both the US Senator and the preacher of the new Ebenezer Church, also on Auburn Avenue.

The King Center is located on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta close to downtown Atlanta in what is one of the major historic Black communities in the city. Much of the area is now, appropriately, a National Park. Mrs. King, in fact, created the "Martin Luther, Jr. King Center for Nonviolent Social Change" in 1968 in the basement of her home in Atlanta, year Dr. King was assassinated. Her home on Sunset Avenue was close to the Atlanta University Center some and distance from Auburn Avenue. In 1981, Mrs. King moved the King Center to its present location on Auburn Avenue.

Martin Luther, Jr. King Center for Nonviolent Social Change

A block away from the King Center, on the same side of the street, is Dr. King's birth home built in 1895 and pictured below.

Dr. King's Birth Home

Also, next to the King Center itself is the renowned Ebenezer Baptist Church that was the King family church. While the church was created in 1886 by the freedman, Pastor John Andrew Parker and he was followed by Pastor Alfred Daniel Williams in 1894. The present location and building of the church on Auburn Avenue was in 1914.

In 1931, Dr. King's father, Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr., became the pastor of Ebenezer

and Martin Luther King, Jr. served as co-pastor at Ebenezer with his father from 1960 until his death in 1968.

Subsequently, in 2000, Ebenezer Baptist Church was designated as a National Historic Site and, in 1999, a new Ebenezer Baptist Church had been built across the street which is where Senator Raphael Warnock now serves as pastor.

The new Ebenezer Baptist Church

Subsequently, in 2000, Ebenezer Baptist Church was designated as a National Historic Site and, in 1999, a new Ebenezer Baptist Church (pictured above) had been built across the street which is where Senator Raphael Warnock now serves as pastor.

More about the National Significance of the Auburn Avenue Area

Further down Auburn Avenue from the King Center was the headquarters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Created in 1957, SCLC served as the activist arm of King's civil rights advocacy.

Dr. King outside SCLC on Auburn Avenue

Mrs. King always told me that the role of the King Center was to train individuals in non-violent social change and that the activist work was that of SCLC, where those trained in non-violence could be involved or inspired regarding additional work in the movement. To me, this was a wise designation of responsibilities.

The Auburn Avenue area also includes residential housing, shops, music clubs, restaurants, and other major churches, such as Big Bethel AME Church and Wheat Street Baptist Church, etc.

Dr. King was raised in this vibrant neighborhood and when he died, he was brought back home. His tomb is located on the King Center grounds next to Ebenezer Baptist and surrounded by what is referred to as the reflecting pool. It is one of the most visited tourist sites in America. The tomb of Mrs. King, who died in 2006, is now next to her husband.

Tomb of Martin Luther King, Jr. at the King Center

My office at the King Center was located in the back of the building so when I sat at my desk I could look out directly at Dr. King's tomb and would often see throngs of people visiting the site.

One cold January day in the 1980s, when there was snow and ice on the ground and virtually no cars or individuals on the streets or sidewalks, I went into work anyway. Hardly anyone else was at the King Center that day.

As I sat at my desk, I looked outside yet again to view Dr. King's tomb. No one was outside. Then suddenly an elderly black gentleman walks by my window and up the few steps to the reflecting pool and close to Dr. King's tomb. He then kneels in front of the tomb with his head down, as in prayer. The image of him is still ingrained in my consciousness. It was such a beautiful gesture.

I've always wondered what was likely going through this gentleman's mind and I've asked some friends for ideas of a metaphor of sorts to describe this devotional expression. Invariably and not surprisingly the response is that he wanted to take this opportunity to honor and thank Dr. King for his leadership, his sacrifice, his transformative service to those in need and those seeking justice in Atlanta, the United States and the world. I've also wondered, did he grow up with Dr. King in the Auburn Avenue area? Was he acknowledging a long time friendship? I don't know.

I have thought also that this gentleman wanted some time alone with Dr. King and to communicate in whatever way was possible with the spirit of the great man and to honor him.

What was the impact on me in witnessing this beautiful moment? To me this singular gesture of humility suggests what I, and many others, have likely thought and felt about Martin Luther King. Love was central to King. If he did not like what someone did or how oppressive they might be, he would say, "I love you, but I don't like what you do." Love is powerful and Dr. King, of course, knew it. So, even apart from his profound leadership, speeches and analysis of the problems faced in the world, he was and remains a spiritual force in taking a stand for and loving humanity and all of us as individuals and many of us, and likely the elderly gentleman as well, know and knew precisely that reality. It is likely, in return, that the elderly gentleman that day was expressing his love for Dr. King. Or whatever might have been the reason for his gesture, his humility has empowered me ever since and I respectfully revere Dr. King and the elderly gentleman who remains forever in my consciousness.

Mrs. King passed in 2006 and her tomb is now located next to her husband at the King Center site.

Summary

Given the huge civil rights local, national and international achievements thanks to the King family and all of the other institutions inspired by their work - many located on Auburn Avenue - we have been blessed that the Ebenezer Baptist pastor, Raphael Warnock, has represented Georgia and the nation in the United States Senate. The Auburn Avenue area is symbolic of the world we should all seek for justice and respect for the other.

As Dr. King would say:

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." Letter from Birmingham, Alabama jail, April 16, 1963

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Full article: Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. | Justice Initiative Intern...