New plaque in Boston honors MLK’s Alpha Phi Alpha Brotherhood

A little known chapter of the story of Martin Luther King Jr. Will come to light on 18 June with the unveiling of a plaque to commemorate his decision to become a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Brotherhood in 1952 while going to Boston University. This tribute emphasizes King’s journey to become an alfaman and wants to shed light on his time in Boston, and to honor the permanent legacy of the historic gross Hall -district of the city.

According to The Boston GlobeClennon L. King, a documentary maker and the historian based in Georgia responsible For the Love Story Trail by Martin and Coretta van Boston believes that it is up to black people to keep histories that would otherwise be forgotten alive.

“It is our jobs as black people to describe our history,” said Grennon King. “If we don’t mark our history, we are convicted of repeating it.”

The date of the unveiling also coincides with the 72nd wedding anniversary of Martin and Coretta Scott King, after the efforts of Clennon King in 2024 to get a tombstone for Mary Louise Powell, the New England Conservatory or Music Student who was responsible for the introduction of Martin and Coretta to each other.

Their interaction on their blind date, initiated by Powell, was recreated by the highly acclaimed “Genius: MLK/X” of National Geographic. Although a fictional, dramatized account, according to the report of Clennon King about their love story for Boston MagazineIt conquered the spirit of the reports of King’s ability to turn on his charm.

Clennon King, who is not related to Martin and Coretta, told the outlet that the monument will return the legacy of King in Boston to his roots, back to the black neighborhoods of Boston who accepted him as their own when he first arrived in the city.

Lauren B. Martin, whose father, judge Baron H. Martin, took the photo of King and the other Alphas who crossed in 1952, also represents the history of Boston, because the site of the photo is the house of her father who bears the distinction as one of the first ownership of black people in the mostly Jewish neighborhood.

Koning was attracted to the black community, in particular Roxbury and the South End van Boston when he first arrived in Boston in 1951 after leaving Atlanta, and according to Jason Asirifi the district director and the president of the organization of New England Chapters of Alpha) also tells the Salvha (Oneca) in the Salvan of the Plaque) in the PLAQUA) (Oneca) also in the Plaque’s Het Plaque) Shaping Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.

King, Asirifi noticed, wanted the “improvement of humanity and the black experience” that Alphas and other divine nine members also sought. He continued: ‘Everything [King] Did was leaving a legacy for his children and the people around him. You are not looking for an organization if Alpha if you do not want to be part of a larger community. “

That larger community that Asirifi spoke about was in many ways encapsulated by King’s Line Brothers, such as Herman Hemingway, the founder of the Boston’s Office of Human Rights Die died in 2020, and was honored with his own monument as part of the 1965 Freedom Plaza.

According to the daughter of Hemingway, Myra, “He really loved his brotherhood and the support she gave him through the brotherhood over the years meant so much to him. It is difficult that he is not here, but in the Spirit I know that he is looking down and smiles.”

In the meantime, Martin believes that, despite the changing demography of the neighborhood of Grove Hall, the plaque can still remind people of King’s belief in the ‘beloved community’ and the people who once called the neighborhood their house.

“It’s going to change, people are going to change neighborhoods,” Martin told the Sphere. “But hopefully these markers give the new neighborhood a reference and a concept of how we are all related.”

Related content: Dr. King’s Family Home receives a facelift from the National Park Service