KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Black History Month is coming to an end, but Black leaders in Knoxville hope its impact lasts beyond the month of February.
One street in Knoxville is a year-round reminder of the triumphs and struggles of being Black in America.
For more than three decades, Knoxville's Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. has served as a symbol "of the local and national struggle," according to Rev. Harold Middlebrook.
Getting the street named after Dr. King was somewhat of a struggle in and of itself.
“The struggle was merely walking the street, knocking on doors, and convincing people that it ought to happen," Middlebrook explained.
He is one of several local activists who made it happen back in 1989.
They were able to gather enough signatures for their petition, but not without meeting some resistance along the way.
“The building right across the street: Knox Plating. The lady who ran that building said that she had not had any Blacks working for her and that she did not want her name on a street named for a Black," Middlebrook recalled.
“Those streets don't simply just happen," explained University of Tennessee Knoxville Professor Derek Alderman. "They they take place because of black activism that was cultivated during the Civil Rights Movement.”
Alderman is the Geography Department Head at UTK and has spent over two decades researching various roads named after Dr. King.
“Many of the activists that I've had the pleasure of meeting and learning from who live and work along those streets, they use King's name, they use those streets to make the call for greater attention to the needs for black America," Alderman explained.
In the late 1980s, Rev. Middlebrook had a vision for the future of Knoxville's Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.
“That we could see a number of businesses flourishing, that we could see activities happening on this street and that we could see people really taking pride in the street," he said.
“There's no doubt that whenever I see a great name on a street sign, and particularly a name like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., there's a sense of pride in it," Rev. Renee Kesler at the Beck Cultural Exchange Center explained.
She adds that it's about more than a name at a metal sign; it's a representation of what Dr. King was striving for.
"It's something all of us can be proud of, irrespective of your color, irrespective of your socioeconomic status," Kesler said. "Dr. King stood for people. And so now when you have a street name, it's important because you're a part of that, too. Whether you're part of this neighborhood, another community when you see that, you know it represents you as well."
More than 1,000 streets across the United States are named after Dr. King.