Life on MLK Part Three
Leo Turner, 75, poses for a portrait at the Lincoln Senior Center, 4712 North Martin Luther King Avenue, Wednesday Jan. 13, 2009, in Oklahoma City. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Elder Robinson, 85, shuffles dominos at the Lincoln Senior Center, 4712 North Martin Luther King Avenue, Friday, Jan. 8, 2009, in Oklahoma City. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Leo Turner, 75, spends his free time Lincoln Senior Center, 4712 Martin Luther King Ave., playing dominoes, eating lunch and talking with friends.
“It’s home away from home,” he said
“It is somewhere for me to go without the walls closing in on me. I get to meet new people, these are my old friends. So, we can sit down play a game together.”
Watch a slideshow of Turner and his friends at the senior center below. View the entire project here
Life on MLK Part two
Kittakone Sirisombath, 4th grade, poses for a picture at Millwood Arts Academy, 6700 Martin Luther King Ave., Monday, Jan. 11, 2010, in Oklahoma City. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Millwood Arts Academy fourth-grader Kittakome Sirisombath can rattle off the ending to Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech as if he wrote it himself.
He memorized it, not because a teacher or parent told him to, but because he feels it is important to learn black history.
He said he is free today because of the struggles and works of the civil rights leaders and it is important to understand their plight in order to keep their hopes and dreams alive.
Learning the “I Have a Dream” speech is the 9-year-old’s way of continuing the legacy of Dr. King.
Watch Sirisombath read the speech below.
See Sirisombath and his classmates Santa Randle, Maygen Fisher, DeJaMarie Swenson, Cameron Batson and Mekale Chapple read the speech together here.
Life on MLK Part One
A stop sign is pictured at NE 17th and Martin Luther King Avenue in Oklahoma City, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
It is popular for communities across the nation to immortalize the legendary civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by naming a street in his honor.
It might be a boulevard, a drive or avenue.
In Allentown, Pa., it is Martin Luther King Drive. In Baltimore, Md., it is a boulevard. In Louisville, Ky., it is an expressway.
In Oklahoma City, it is Martin Luther King Avenue. Commonly mistaken for a boulevard, it quietly begins around Wilshire Boulevard and runs straight south to 1-40, where it ends as quickly as it began.
MLK is lined with all kinds of life from schools to homes to abandoned buildings. The Freedom Center, 2609 N. Martin Luther King Ave., symbolizes its civil rights roots.
The name change of Oklahoma City’s Eastern Ave. to Martin Luther King Ave. in 1985 was not immune to controversy.
But for Devin Richardson who grew up in the neighborhood, the change was important to the community that surrounds it.
“I think it meant a lot, because you’re remembering one of our big, historical black leaders,” she said.
Two months ago, I began exploring the avenue for evidence of Dr. King’s dream. For the next week, and periodically throughout the month the February, Black History Month, I will be sharing the stories of people who live and work along MLK.
Check back often at Alternate Crop and here for updates as this story continues to grow.
The Freedom Center is pictured on Martin Luther King Avenue in Oklahoma City, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Douglass High School is pictured at 900 Martin Luther King Ave., in Oklahoma City, Monday, Jan. 11, 2010. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
A shop is pictured at 1300 Martin Luther King Ave., is pictured in Oklahoma City, Monday, Jan. 11, 2010. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, 2100 Martin Luther King Ave., is pictured in Oklahoma City, Monday, Jan. 11, 2010. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Members of Israelite Church of God in Christ preach on the corner of Martin Luther King Avenue and 23rd Street in Oklahoma City, Monday, Jan. 11, 20010. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Click here for more on Martin Luther King Avenue in Oklahoma City.
