More than a thousand streets around the world bear the name of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Derek Alderman, a professor of geography at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, examined the role of African Americans in the King street-naming process for The Conversation.
The range of these named streets across the US makes it seem that memorializing King was inevitable. But for some communities, the drive to name public spaces in King’s name has taken years as well as heated debates, boycotts, petition drives, marches, and even litigation.
The nation’s Martin Luther King Streets are one terrain on which a continuing struggle for civil rights has played out. Read the full article on The Conversation.
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Lindsey Owen (865-974-6375, lowen8@utk.edu)