King district gets new parcel

By Ernie Suggs

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

In a world of ironies, the latest piece of property to become an official part of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site was birthed in conflict.

In 1936, a woman named Jettie Nowell purchased the rambling two story home at 530 Auburn Avenue. It was right down the street from both Ebenezer Baptist Church and the home of the church’s pastor, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr. who lived in tidy yellow house with his wife and three little children.

But 10 minutes after the real estate agent sold the home to Nowell, he sold it to another family.

“Two people bought the same house at the same time,” said Gail Goodwin, the great-granddaughter of Nowell. “So that night they both came to claim it. My family ended up sleeping inside the house and other family – all of them – laid out mattresses and slept in the front yard.”

A judge finally settled the matter and the Nowell family has lived in the home ever since.

“That 10 minutes saved us,” Goodwin said. “That is why we have this legacy today.”

In an elaborate ceremony Wednesday, the property was officially handed over to the National Park Service to become part of the King Historic Site. The home was purchased from the Nowell estate by the Trust for Public Land and sold to the Park Service.

“This day is more than just a day of celebration of a transfer of property,” said park superintendent Judy Forte. “This moment affirms Dr. King’s teachings….and keeps his dream alive forever.”

Richard M. Tucker, the associate Georgia state director for the Trust for Public Land, said they purchased the property for about $99,000 and sold it to the Park Service for $72,000.

The home is the 13^th piece of land that the Trust has purchased in the district since the early 1980s that they have either sold or donated to the Park Service. After King's death in 1968 and before it became a National Historic Site administered by the Park Service, the area had become run down. Many homes were scheduled to be demolished and there was discussion of tearing down several homes to build a highway.

“We can assume on this street that nothing was inevitable about this,” said the Georgia Director of the Trust for Public Land Helen Tapp, who was joined by national director Will Rogers. “This was a scary place at best. Now it is a living school for people.”

What will happen to 530 Auburn Avenue remains to be seen. Public funding and partnerships will be sought to refurbish and restore the structure. Once that happens, the home can either be rented out to a family or used by the Park Service as a museum or offices.

The home has actually been boarded up for about nine months, but Tucker said that was more as a precaution against vandalism, fire and vagrants than of dilapidation.

“Auburn Avenue remains an unfinished diamond in the rough,” said Mtamanika Youngblood, chair of the Historic District Development Corporation. “We want to make the length and breadth of the district a shining example of what we are all striving for – Dr. King’s beloved community.”

Wednesday’s ceremony was a step back in time. An old gray Studebaker sat parked in front of 530 Auburn Avenue. School children, at the ceremony to sing, later ran around eating popcorn and brownies. Even bottles of Coca-Cola were given out.

“Being here brings back so many memories of growing up here,” said King’s only living sibling Christine King Farris. “Not many are fortunate enough to be able to return to their birthplace.”

When she arrived for the ceremony, Goodwin began to cry as a rush of memories hit her. She was born in New York, but moved to Georgia to live with her grandmother, Annie Nowell-Johnson, when she was only a month old, because her father had gone off to war.

“I moved away when I was 4 years old, but I came back every summer and moved back for good in 1969 to go to school,” Goodwin said. “There are so many wonderful memories here. I can still see my grandmother and great-grandmother on the porch. I still see all the people from the neighborhood.”

Goodwin said her grandmother owned the house with two of her sisters. As many as 10 of their siblings lived there at one point. Annie Nowell-Johnson died last year at the age of 101 in College Park. She had not lived in the home since around 2004, although the family still owned it.

“She would be pleased to know her house was going to the National Park Service,” Goodwin said.