Events around Atlanta honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

ATLANTA — Wednesday marks 50 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

As people across the country and here in the Atlanta metro celebrate the life of Dr. King, tourists flocked to his childhood home and the MLK Center in Atlanta’s Auburn Avenue corridor.

Channel 2's Lori Wilson found some sites around Atlanta that tourists are not as familiar with, but they were just as important to Dr. King.

Wilson met Janiyah, 7, and her brother and sister, after they had walked through King’s historic birth home.

A line wrapped around the home all day Wednesday, with people hoping to get in to see where the civil rights leader was born.

“He was helping people so they could have the equal rights,” Janiyah said.

King’s childhood home sits just blocks away from the King Center and just a few miles away from his alma mater, Morehouse College.

The college dedicated the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel in 1979 as a tribute to King by his Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity brothers.

“Just seeing a pioneer, a visionary such as himself, has really inspired me to go out and impact my community in whatever way possible,” Morehouse student Devon Smith said.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Channel 2 Action News and WSB Radio covered the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 50 years ago, and now bring you the most comprehensive coverage on the anniversary.

In-depth stories, interviews with witnesses to history, the most extensive archive of photos, audio and video and extensive team coverage of Dr. King's far reaching impact.

King also inspired Morehouse College’s dean of the freshman experience, Alvin Darden. He told Wilson that his first visit to the campus was on a historic day.

“I saw all the folks on the central campus and I had no clue what was going on. I just followed the crowd,” Darden said.

Wilson then went over to Sunset Avenue, to the home where the Kings lived when Dr. King was assassinated.

“He wanted to live among the people,” Vine City Civic Association President John H. Lewis III said.

Lewis said the house that he now lives next door to, has been a point of pride for people in Vine City and the greater Atlanta community for years.

“This is our native son who changed the world,” Lewis said.

The MLK Chapel had its first graduating class in 1979. Included in the class were Martin Luther King III, Spike Lee and former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

A candlelight vigil in honor of King will be held outside the Sunset Avenue home at 7 p.m.

Here is a list of events planned throughout the city to honor Dr. King:

All day: FedEx is paying for free admission for everyone on Wednesday at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights downtown. Features the "Live the Legacy" series of images by documentary photographer Jim Alexander. Extended hours: 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. 100 Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd., Atlanta.

All day: "Remembrance Week" at the King National Historic Park will run from Wednesday, the anniversary of King's death, through Monday, the anniversary of his funeral procession. The Visitors Center, Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, and Freedom Hall are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Free. 450 Auburn Ave. NE, Atlanta.

All day: Beginning Wednesday, the 15-minute film, "The Last Days of King," will play in the National Historic Park's Visitors Center from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The film features Coretta Scott King, other members of the King family and close associates of MLK talking about King's life and death.

All day: King Collection Symposium at Morehouse College. Click here for details about the event.

7:01 p.m. King was shot exactly 50 years ago to the minute (at 6:01 p.m. Central Time). Bells will ring nationwide 39 times for King's 39 years. And the three King siblings — Martin III, Dexter and Bernice — and Martin III's daughter will lay a wreath at the crypt of Martin and Coretta King. King Center.

8 p.m. An hour-long television special, featuring reports from Memphis and Atlanta, begins on WSB-TV.

8:04 p.m. At the moment King was pronounced dead 50 years ago, the AJC and WSB will observe a moment of silence.

(A daylong series of activities and remembrances is planned for the Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. WSB-TV will be covering.)

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Channel 2 Action News and WSB Radio covered the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 50 years ago, and now bring you the most comprehensive coverage on the anniversary.

In-depth stories, interviews with witnesses to history, the most extensive archive of photos, audio and video and extensive team coverage of Dr. King's far reaching impact.

The March 21 documentary ‘The Last Days of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’ on Channel 2 kicked off a countdown of remembrance across the combined platforms of Channel 2 and its partners, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB Radio.

The three Atlanta news sources will release comprehensive multi-platform content through April 9, the anniversary of King’s funeral.

On April 4, the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination, the three properties will devote extensive live coverage to the memorials in Atlanta, Memphis and around the country.

The project will present a living timeline in real time as it occurred on that day in 1968, right down to the time the fatal shot was fired that ended his life an hour later.

The project will culminate on April 9 with coverage of the special processional in Atlanta marking the path of Dr. King’s funeral, which was watched by the world.

Cox Media Group