Development (or not) in Dallas

Dallas Observer checks up on the MLK Blvd Business Facade / Revitalization Program in that city and finds that it doesn’t exist. [Item uses an image culled from this site (and properly credited) -- kinda cool.]

MLK Day on MLK (in Baltimore)

Baltimore, 2010, originally uploaded by Alan Barr.

More great images of Baltimore’s MLK Day celebrations in Alan Barr’s photostream.

MLK Day, on MLK

MLK parade on MLK, originally uploaded by anthonyturducken.

From a great set, MLK Day 2010, from New Orleans, today. A few more from the set, below.

MLK parade on MLK, originally uploaded by anthonyturducken.

MLK parade on MLK, originally uploaded by anthonyturducken.

MLK and S Claiborne, originally uploaded by anthonyturducken.

Touring Chicago’s “Bronzeville”

bronzeville mural, originally uploaded by sassnasty.

“On mlk drive,” notes the caption of this image, from a set called Bronzeville Hoods Jan 16 2010, which documents a walking tour through a section of Chicago, Bronzeville, that encompasses a section of that city’s MLK.

a chicken. and a waffle. , originally uploaded by sassnasty.

Chicago’s Home of Chicken and Waffles.

bronzeville’s monument to the great northern migration, originally uploaded by sassnasty.

At 26th & MLK. The caption notes: “He’s covered in shoe soles. not feathers.”

Berkeley

_CMP4938, originally uploaded by LA • DE • DA.

From a set apparently documenting development in Berkeley:

MLK and University Ave., Berkeley CA

There are essentially two different buildings on the site. One is the yellow (Ochre) color with terracotta details, the other is a shingle craftsman style. The craftsman building is the one on the Berkeley Way which is a residential street. The yellow building is on the University Ave.

Trader Joe’s will be on the ground floor of the yellow building on the University and MLK corner. Yali’s cafe (name?) will be on the ground floor of the craftsman building at Berkeley Way and MLK.

Monday…

Is Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service. More here.

MLK & the boardwalk, Atlantic City

Peanut World on a Cold Winter Day, originally uploaded by iirraa.

The caption: “The sun was out so it wasn’t that bad. The temperature was probably around 30F (-1C). I think that this used to be the Planter’s Peanut store.”

Looking Downbeach at MLK and the Boardwalk, originally uploaded by iirraa.

Odd squabble around community garden in Savannah

Community group tries to clean up space on Savannah’s MLK; owner writes local paper complaining.

Eh?

In any case this article ends (and this one) with suggestion that perhaps there will be progress after all. Savannah volunteers can contact: The Root Down Community G(art)den at rootdowncommunitygarden@gmail.com

MLK Blvd as “Landscape of Memory”

The Fall 2008 issue of Southern Cultures, a scholarly journal, included a photo essay about MLK Blvds compiled by Derek Alderman, who has done research on MLKs in the past. The abstract says:

Traditionally, public commemoration in the South has been devoted largely to remembering the region’s role in the Civil War and the mythic Old South plantation culture supposedly lost as a result of that conflict. These memories remain deeply ingrained in the southern landscape of monuments, museums, historical markers, and place names. Yet, African Americans who seek to make their own claim to the South and its history increasingly challenge Civil War-centered conceptions of the past. Perhaps the best known of these struggles involve ongoing calls to remove public symbols of the Confederacy. At the same time, African American southerners are using direct political action to build memorials that recognize their own historical experiences, struggles, and achievements. A major pillar in this trend is the commemoration of another, quite different revolution from that of the Civil War—the Civil Rights Movement.

The naming of streets after slain Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is the most widespread example of African American efforts to rewrite the landscape of southern commemoration. Despite the growing frequency of naming streets in honor of Dr. King, this new cultural phenomenon has received limited attention, even though the inscription of King’s legacy onto streets is a potentially valuable indicator of where the South is in terms of race relations.

The photos include several culled from this site. They’re used by permission of the photographers, and credited properly, but unfortunately this site and project are not mentioned.

Portland Mural

Mural, originally uploaded by sonarbison.

“Martin Luther King Blvd. in Portland, Oregon.”