Atlanta marks 50 years since King’s funeral services
ATLANTA — Relatives of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led more than 1,000 people on a march Monday in downtown Atlanta, where large crowds gathered 50 years earlier for the slain civil rights leader’s funeral procession as a mule-drawn wagon pulled his casket through the streets.
On Monday, people sang the spiritual “This Little Light of Mine” and waved signs with slogans such as “Nobody’s Free Until Everybody’s Free” as the march left Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King once preached. Two of King’s children, the Rev. Bernice King and Martin Luther King III, locked arms as they walked at the front of the march.
King’s granddaughter, Yolanda Renee King, and the Rev. Al Sharpton also took part in the march covering just over 1 mile (1.6 kilometres) for a rally at the grounds of the Georgia state capitol, where marchers were greeted by the Martin Luther King Jr. High School marching band.
Los Angeles native Bill Watkins, 45, rode 55 hours to attend the march and rally. He felt compelled to make trip in support of the King family and the civil rights movement.