When the city of Boston erected "The Embrace," a sculpture honoring civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., on the Boston Common in 2023, some detractors questioned why the city was honoring Dr. King. After all, Dr. King was not born in Boston, nor did he die in this city.
However, Boston significantly influenced Dr. King's social identity and education more than any other city in the United States. Boston served as the location where Dr. King met his future wife, Coretta Scott; earned his doctorate in systematic theology; engaged in the African American movement; and functioned as an assistant preacher at Boston's Twelfth Baptist Church.
This year, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Office of Equity and Inclusion at Revere Public School adopted a unique approach to commemorate Dr. King's life and legacy.
On Friday, January 10, a group of over 50 Revere High School students traced the three years Dr. King spent in Boston. Rather than merely absorbing information about the field trip, the Revere High students delivered presentations for each site associated with Dr. King.
These historical sites include his first home on Saint Botolph Street; the diner on Huntington Avenue where he and Coretta had their first date; the former location of the Twelfth Baptist Church on Shawmut Avenue; and Carter Playground in the South End where Dr. King played pickup basketball as a graduate student. The playground later served as the starting point for his famous March on Boston in 1965. The march triggered twenty thousand residents who united to combat racial segregation and inequities in education. The trip culminated with a visit to Dr. and Coretta Scott King's Embrace sculpture, which expresses their love, relationship, and journey in Boston.
In this two-part series, students address the question: Why did Dr. King relocate to Boston? What was important about his stay here? What was the most amazing thing you discovered about Coretta Scott King? What influence did Coretta Scott King have on the Civil Rights Movement? How would you justify the phrase Dr. King experiences in Boston made him the man and leader he became"?