MLK streets up for the count

A professor has spent years tallying roads and places named for slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The total so far: 730 streets in America, and counting.

By Times staff writer
Published January 21, 2008

Fourth Street N in Safety Harbor became Dr. M.L. King Street N last year, ending the dual designation for the road.
	[Ted McLaren | Times (2007)]

Life gets pretty busy this time every year for Derek Alderman. That's because Alderman, a professor at East Carolina University, and his colleagues in the university's Geography Department have worked for years to document the number of streets and places named for the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

It's tough work. The number is constantly changing as cities decide whether to honor the civil rights leader, whose birth is celebrated today. And though he always cautions that the list he and his colleagues are collecting is not definitive, that hasn't stopped them from seeking the data. Alderman has been a professor since 2000 at ECU in Greenville, N.C.

Alderman, 39, describes himself as a cultural geographer. "I am interested in how people create and identify with their built environment and how they use the landscape to express their views about history, heritage and who is historically significant," he said in an interview with the Times. "My interest in MLK streets is related to my larger interest in memorials and monuments to the civil rights movement and the role that African-Americans play in shaping the American landscape so that they are heard and seen."

In the nearly 40 years since his death, Alderman says, "It's still very difficult to get a street named for King. There are endless examples of communities that have great debates over this issue." In Covington, Ky., for example, Alderman said leaders there debated the issue for 20 years before naming a street for King just a few months ago.

Just last year, two Pinellas County communities were debating the issue. Safety Harbor, which had been discussing the change for some 17 years, renamed Fourth Street N to Dr. M.L. King Street N. In Largo, naming a landmark for King has been discussed since 2002 but no formal decision has been made. The issue was raised again last year when Rodney Woods, Largo's first black city commissioner, revived the issue.

Along with Owen Dwyer, Alderman has written a book looking at the topic, Civil Rights Memorials and the Geography of Memory. The book, published by the University of Georgia Press and the Center for American Places, is scheduled for release in August.

In the meantime, here are some facts about King streets in America and abroad from Alderman and the folks at ECU.

- First King street in the United States: Chicago in 1968, the year King was assassinated.

- King streets in America: 730 as of 2003 (most recent data)

- States with a King Street: 39 and Washington, D.C.

- King streets in Florida: 73 as of 2003

- In the Tampa Bay area, according to Alderman, there are about 10.

- One of the longest King streets is in Hillsborough County, running through several municipalities including Tampa. It is a little over 14 miles and is similar in length to Chicago's King street.

- One of the shortest is Martin Luther King Circle in Tupelo, Miss., at less than one-tenth of a mile. Another is a small six-house cul-de-sac named for King in Phoenix.

- One road in Jacksonville, N.C., is named for King and his wife, the Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King Jr. Highway.

- Top 10 states with King streets:

Georgia: 105 (King's home state)

Mississippi: 88

Texas: 86

Florida: 73

Louisiana: 72

Alabama: 62

North Carolina: 36

California: 19

South Carolina: 18

Arkansas: 17

- Are King streets only in big cities? No. More than 50 percent of all King streets are in places with fewer than 10,000 people.

- Are there King-named features in other countries? Yes. There are named streets in Italy, Israel and Belgium; named plazas and squares in Russia, India and Brazil; and named schools in Panama and Cameroon.

- Public schools in the United States named for King: 125 as of 2005.

IF YOU GO
Meet the professor

Derek Alderman will discuss his work and new book at the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg in Davis Hall room 130 on Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m. The talk is free and open to the public.

[Last modified January 18, 2008, 17:30:37]