Atlanta's 4-mile
goodbye to King

By Rosalind Bentley / Photos by Ken Guthrie except where indicated
April 1, 2018

Photo above: Inching his way toward Ebenezer Baptist Church, Ken Guthrie was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people and the lengths to which they'd gone to get just a glimpse of the proceedings. People climbed trees, like the men in the upper left of this photo. Behind the men is an empty lot. It was used as extra church parking back then, but today the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change sits on that land, along with the crypts of Dr. King and his wife, Coretta Scott King.

April 9, 1968: Tens of thousands clogged nearly every horizontal surface surrounding Ebenezer Baptist Church, from hilltops to rooftops, all craning for a view of the dignitaries, celebrities and the hearse bearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s body. Ken Guthrie, a Reinhardt College student, wedged into the crowd and began snapping pictures on his single roll of film.

This special presentation tells the story of King's funeral procession from three perspectives. First is Ken Guthrie's view and the photos he shot that day along the route. Second is the extraordinary tableau that marchers passed by at the state Capitol: just a block apart, they saw the old and hateful South juxtaposed with the newer and more inclusive South, the one that King died to secure. And third is the route itself: these are streets and avenues that we know well and travel regularly. But most of us don't realize that Martin Luther King Jr. traveled them for a final time on that spring day in 1968.

To document his presence at the procession, Guthrie gave his camera to one of his friends and told him to take a photo of him near Ebenezer. (Courtesy of Ken Guthrie)

As Ken Guthrie got closer to Ebenezer Baptist Church, he turned west to show the crowds he'd waded through along Auburn Avenue. Several Atlanta landmarks in this picture still stand, including Wheat Street Baptist Church, (left foreground), Haugabrooks Funeral Home (sign is partially obstructed by a telephone pole) and in the distance, the iconic steeple of Big Bethel AME Church, with its bright blue "Jesus Saves" sign.

PHOTOS LOST AND FOUND

Five days had passed since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Ken Guthrie was ready for the final goodbye.

He and some friends from Reinhardt College in Waleska piled into his Mustang for the hour drive to Atlanta. Guthrie had been taking pictures since he was 13, just as a hobby. Now 20 and with a sharper eye and greater skill, he wanted to use all he'd learned to photograph what he knew would be an important moment in the nation's history: the funeral of King.

"I was intensely aware of what was going on and wanted to be a part of it," Guthrie said.

VIDEO: Mourners watch the casket arrive at Ebenzer Baptist Church. (Brown Media Archives at UGA)

The group made good time getting to Atlanta. Guthrie found a parking lot near Five Points downtown, and the friends set out for Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the first of two services would be held that day. Using a newspaper description of the 4.3 mile-processional route, Guthrie and his group made their way toward Auburn Avenue. Block by block, the crowds swelled. People had begun camping camped out long before dawn to secure the best vantage points.

Respect for the moment was evident in the way people were dressed. Men wore hats, suits and ties. Women wore their best Sunday hats, dresses and stoles. Most knew they would not get into the church for the first service, which was private. In fact, with tens of thousands of people clotting the sidewalks and streets in the district, they wouldn't even get close to the building.

As he got near Wheat Street Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue, Guthrie began snapping pictures. A college student on a budget, he'd only brought one roll of film. He'd have to conserve. Spotting a cluster of police officers, he surmised that was the spot where dignitaries, celebrities and politicians would be dropped off and escorted to the church.

He was right. From that vantage point, Guthrie recorded significant moments of the morning. Not simply the arrivals of high-profile guests, but the anguish and despondency of nameless mourners. Later, after the service was over at Ebenezer, Guthrie continued to take pictures as the processional made its way to Morehouse College for the public memorial service.

Historians have used the euphemism "complicated" to describe the relationship between the Kennedys and King and his inner circle. There were constant issues of trust, with each questioning the motives of the other. But upon King's assassination, the Kennedys stepped forward to help with key logistics in preparing for King's burial. Ted Kennedy arrived for the service at Ebenezer, but it was the arrival of his brother, Robert, (and his wife, Ethel) that caused the crowds to scream in excitement. "For a moment it appeared that Bedlam might break out as the crowds surged toward Kennedy," The Atlanta Constitution reported.

There were to be two services for King that day, a private ceremony that began at 10:30 a.m. at Ebenezer and another scheduled for early afternoon at Morehouse College, King's alma mater. Many of the dignitaries attended the first service. Eugene McCarthy (pictured here), a Democratic senator from Minnesota, was among the four presidential candidates to attend the funeral. Also on hand: Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who was running to succeed President Lyndon Johnson. And the fourth was Republican Richard M. Nixon, who would go on to defeat Humphrey in November. During the Ebenezer service Humphrey sat next to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

People used any advantage they could to get a view of the processional down Auburn Avenue. The crowds gathered outside the church long before dawn and swelled with each passing hour. People climbed on top of cars, rooftops, a large hill in front of Ebenezer and even into trees surrounding the church. The service was broadcast on loudspeakers to the throngs who could not get in. Crowd estimates for the entire day were placed at 200,000.

As the service inside Ebenezer came to a close, the crowds posed another dilemma. Two mules brought in to pull the wagon had to be maneuvered closer to the church so the casket could be loaded onto the wagon. There was gridlock. No one would move. Police officers on motorcycles began snaking their way through the mass to clear a path. Eventually the mules were hitched to the wagon, but only after a voice from "a loudspeaker boomed: 'Let me have your attention. If you don't move back, I think that mule will move you back.' "

People wore their very best to the funeral, even though they knew they'd never get inside Ebenezer. It was a sign of respect for King and the movement he stood for.

Jackie Kennedy shared a private moment with Coretta Scott King at the King home in the days after the assassination. The two women had a brutal bond that few others could fathom. While the funeral day was somber, there was excitement and wonder as busloads of politicians, celebrities, athletes and dignitaries made their way to the church. Guthrie by then had figured out where they would be unloaded and positioned himself accordingly.

For the week after the assassination, King's body was moved around by hearse. But his lieutenants, including Hosea Williams, decided that a mule-drawn wagon would transport the African mahogany casket. It would begin in the heart of one predominantly black district, Auburn Avenue, and wind up in the heart of another predominantly black district, Atlanta University Center (Spelman, Morehouse, Clark College and Atlanta University). The mules and the denim attire of Williams, Andrew Young and others also represented King's final fight for the nation's impoverished, his Poor People's Campaign. In front of the mule train is Williams, in the rear are the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Young and James Orange. Martin Luther King III is behind Young, and Dexter King walks to the far right.

Crowds stretched all the way from Morris Brown College, down Hunter Street, back to downtown Atlanta. But today that straight path no longer exists. The large off-white building in the background was Mount Vernon Baptist Church. Across from it, but not in the photo, was Friendship Baptist Church, an African-American congregation established during the Civil War. Both churches were demolished in 2014 to make way for the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The south end of the stadium now covers a portion of the original route of the King funeral procession.

Guthrie got back to the Mustang, avoided the crowds and found his way to the pedestrian bridge over West Hunter Street at Morris Brown College. He had no press credentials but positioned himself among the other photographers on the bridge - the perfect vantage point from which to see the sheer mass of the crowd. An uninterrupted column of people all the way east to downtown.

The clop, clop of the mules punctuated the air as the wagon drew near. Guthrie aimed his camera just as Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, James Orange and King's two sons, Martin III and Dexter, were about to pass below. He kept taking pictures until a security guard noticed he had no identification and forced him off the bridge.

By then, it didn't matter. Guthrie had what he'd come for.

The processional to Morehouse spanned 4.3 miles. It wove down Auburn Avenue, through the back end of what is now Georgia State University, past the state Capitol and Atlanta City Hall, on its way west to its destination. Ken Guthrie made his way to Morris Brown College near Morehouse, the terminus of the march. The picture above shows the mourners on West Hunter Street, which was later renamed for Martin Luther King, Jr.

Guthrie pivoted to get a shot of the crowds as they neared Morehouse and went through the edge of the Vine City neighborhood, where King lived. The open-air service in the Quadrangle in front of Harkness Hall at Morehouse went on for hours.

Guthrie took photos for about 20 minutes on the pedestrian bridge until a police officer noticed he had no press credentials and ordered him off the bridge. Guthrie said he was one of only a handful of photographers on the bridge.

Later, back at Reinhardt, Guthrie printed only a couple of images. The rest of the negatives he tucked away for printing later. But one day turned into two, weeks turned into months, then years, and at some point, Guthrie looked for the negatives and could not find them. Memories of the day grew fuzzier in his mind. The tangible evidence was lost.

Guthrie, now 70, went on to the military, had a career in marketing and later became an instructor at Georgia State University.

Then, one day about 10 or 15 years ago, his sister, Janet, called from Dahlonega. She'd been going through boxes in her basement and found a cardboard box with her name written on it in their mother's handwriting.

"She told me, 'I just found a whole bunch of your photos and negatives in a box with my name on it,' " Guthrie said.

When cleaning out Guthrie's former room in the family's old Decatur home years ago, his mother put the film in the box and mistakenly wrote his sister's name on the outside. Inside were the negatives from April 9, 1968.

He printed some of the pictures immediately after his sister gave him the negatives. Over the past few years, from time to time he has shown one or two of them to his students at Georgia State. He said he asks them first where the photos were taken. Even with a few iconic buildings in the background, they can't identify the city. Then Guthrie asks them about the images.

"They say, 'Well it looks like the funeral of somebody,' but they don't know who,'" Guthrie said.

He said of three recent classes with a total of 86 students in them, only one student knew what the pictures depict. They have no idea that the funeral procession ran through their current campus. And they don't realize that when their instructor was their age, he recorded one of the world's most important events.

Now, for the first time, Guthrie is sharing many of the photos with the rest of the world, here in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The governor's fortress

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. funeral passes in front of Atlanta City Hall (out of frame) near the Georgia Capitol building. The flag in front of the Capitol building is flying at half-staff over the objection of Gov. Lester Maddox. (Charles Jackson / AJC file)

The day of Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral, Atlanta public schools closed. Many downtown businesses and banks closed. Mayor Ivan Allen suspended liquor sales for the day. It was an official day of mourning.

City officials had been preparing for five days to make sure Atlanta showed the highest measure of respect for its fallen son. They had draped funereal black bunting on the façade of City Hall.

But before the marchers in King's massive funeral procession could reach City Hall, they first had to pass the Georgia Capitol. It was here that King's marchers confronted the legacy of bigotry that had animated his career.

Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox, a staunch segregationist, refused to direct school districts across the state to close in honor of King. Maddox also refused to close the Capitol on the funeral day or give state workers the day off to attend the services, telling reporters, "We don't ever close on Tuesday. Why shouldn't they be on the job?"

VIDEO: Gov. Lester Maddox explains why he refused to close schools for the day. (Brown Media Archives at UGA)

Maddox even resisted flying the American flag at half-staff atop the Capitol, in spite of President Lyndon B. Johnson's order that flags at federal buildings be flown in the position of respect and mourning.

But a rift opened within the Capitol. Georgia Secretary of State Ben. W. Fortson Jr. broke with Maddox, saying he would follow the presidential proclamation. The flag was lowered halfway.

"I'll never regret it," Fortson told The Atlanta Journal. "I may pay for it, but I'll never regret it."

Maddox was furious. He ordered 160 armed state troopers up to the Capitol, stationing some outside and some inside. He even called up 20 armed Game and Fish Commission officers as well. Some officers went to guard other buildings in the Capitol complex. Many were armed with riot guns, night sticks and rifles, with gas masks at their sides.

VIDEO: Mourners sing as they pass the Georgia Capitol. (Brown Media Archives at UGA)

Maddox, who had announced he was not attending the funeral, anticipated violence across Atlanta and saw the Capitol as a potential target. He hunkered down at the Capitol, waiting.

As the mourners began streaming past the back of the Capitol before noon, the atmosphere tensed as they walked in front of all those guns. Then the bells of Central Presbyterian Church began to peal. For days the church, which a century before had been a Confederate landmark, played host to hundreds of people in town for the funeral. The church supplied hot meals and a place to sleep for black and white visitors, against the wishes of some parishioners.

Walking down Washington Street past the Capitol, the columns of marchers began to sing "We Shall Overcome." Maddox no doubt heard them from inside. He told state workers they could go home.

Following the route

An aerial view of Ebenezer Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue on the morning of April 9, 1968, before the start of the funeral procession for Martin Luther King, Jr. (AP file)

Today, the route is a collection of heavily traveled thoroughfares with no sign that King's cortege passed there. It is crossed by tens of thousands of Atlantans each day. Most never realize they're stepping on it.

They're on the path when they board the Atlanta Streetcar and head west along Auburn Avenue. When students walk on Courtland Street to the bookstore at Georgia State University, they are on it. As legislators, Capitol and City Hall workers navigate Washington and Mitchell streets bordering their flagship buildings they are stepping on the route. As people file into the Mercedes-Benz Stadium and take their seats on the stadium's south side, they are sitting on it. And as students of the Atlanta University Center walk along the edge of the quadrangle at Morehouse College they are at the place where the procession culminated.

The maps, videos and photos in this presentation show what the route looked like on April 9, 1968, and what it looks like now. It's 4.3 miles of forgotten history. The course followed by the mule-drawn wagon carrying King's casket and 200,000 mourners and onlookers hides in plain sight.

Using Google Earth, the blue line in these images traces the 1968 procession route through today's Atlanta streets. The march began on Auburn Avenue at Ebenezer Baptist Church, part of today's King Historic District. Boulevard runs left-to-right at the bottom. (Google Earth)

The march continued on Auburn Avenue under the Downtown Connector. It passed between the Oddfellows Building and the Herndon Building (now gone) before passing Big Bethel AME Church. The march turned left onto Courtland Street, where today's Auburn Avenue Research Library now sits. (Google Earth)

On Courtland, the march crossed Edgewood Avenue and continued through the Georgia State campus, which in 1968 was a construction zone. Marchers passed over the train tracks on their way to the State Capitol. (Google Earth)

The procession passed the State Capitol, where Gov. Maddox gave the march a chilly reception. As mourners turned right onto Mitchell Street, they witnessed a different reaction -- the entrance to City Hall respectfully draped in black. Marchers turned right again onto Central before turning left onto Hunter Street (today's MLK Drive). (Google Earth)

The route passed west through the heart of downtown on Hunter Street (MLK Drive), passing within a block of Rich's, where King was once arrested when he joined students for a sit-in protest in 1960. (Google Earth)

VIDEO: The procession walks over the Gulch on the Hunter Street viaduct near today's Mercedes-Benz Stadium. (Brown Media Archives at UGA)

Marchers passed the old Terminal Station building (where today's Richard B. Russell Building sits at lower left), walked on the viaduct over the Gulch, and continued straight down Hunter, through the footprint of today's Mercedes-Benz Stadium. (Google Earth)

The route continued west on Hunter Street toward the Atlanta University Center. That's Northside Drive running left-to-right at the bottom. (Google Earth)

Marchers passed under the pedestrian bridge the spans Hunter Street (MLK Drive) and connects the Morris Brown campus. Several photographers, including Ken Guthrie, took photos of the march from this bridge. (Google Earth)

Marchers passed Ralph David Abernathy's West Hunter Baptist Church (seen at the lower right) and through the Hunter Street business district, including Paschal's restaurant (center left). (Google Earth)

VIDEO: Mourners pass the front of West Hunter Baptist Church on Hunter Street. (Brown Media Archives at UGA)

Marchers turned left onto Ashby Street (today's Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard) and walked through six blocks of residences before turning left again. (Google Earth)

VIDEO: The procession is forced to stop when the crowds get too heavy on Ashby Street. (Brown Media Archives at UGA)

Mourners turned left from Ashby Street (Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard) onto Fair Street (today's Atlanta Student Movement Boulevard) and ended at Harkness Hall on the Morehouse campus. (Google Earth)

View looking west down Auburn Avenue at the funeral procession. The photo was likely taken from the Downtown Connector overpass. The mule-drawn wagon carrying the casket is visible in the lower center. The Herndon Building (destroyed by the 2008 downtown tornado) is visible on the left and the Oddfellows Building on the right, including Bailey's Royal Theater. At the center of the photo is the intersection with Jesse Hill Jr. Drive, with Big Bethel AME Church on the right. (Floyd Jillson / Courtesy of Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center)

Harry Bellafonte walks with other mourners up Courtland Street behind Martin Luther King Jr.'s casket. The intersection of Courtland and Edgewood Avenue is in the near distance, with the Dixie Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Plant visible at right. (AJC Collection at GSU Library / AJCN160-106b)

The mule-drawn wagon on Hunter Street (later Martin Luther King Jr. Drive). City Hall is visible in the background with its entrance draped in black. (Floyd Jillson / Courtesy of Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center)

Aerial view of the memorial service in front of Harkness Hall on the campus of Morehouse College. (Floyd Jillson / Courtesy of Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center)