King Woke Nation to ‘Its Greatest Promise,’ Atlanta Classroom Told

ATLANTA —  Atlanta celebrated the birthday Thursday of native son Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a visit by Education Secretary William J. Bennett and speeches on the civil rights leader’s place in history.

Bennett taught a third-grade class about King and then spoke at an assembly at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.

King “taught us of the importance of peace, but also of the value of struggle. He taught love, but also showed how deep the hatred of others can at times become. He awoke this country to its greatest failing, while awakening it to its greatest promise,” Bennett said at the assembly.

About 250 people attended a ceremony at the state Capitol rotunda in which Gov. Joe Frank Harris proclaimed Monday as King Day in Georgia. Monday also is the day on which the federal holiday for King will be celebrated.

‘Brought Great Change’

“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a native Georgian. He was the only Georgian that won the Nobel Peace Prize and he was the catalyst who brought great change not only in this state, but in this country and around this world,” Harris said.

King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, told the group that her husband left Georgia with a mission “to provide an irresistible example of interracial brotherhood.”

The anniversary of King’s birth was marked in other cities around the nation with speeches, film showings and prayer gatherings.