Biographical Investigation Final Report
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Biographical Investigation Final Report Presesented to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Historic Preservation Office December 12, 2017 Background………………………………………………………………………………….1 SECTION1: Methodology…………………………………………………………………..6 SECTION 2: The Context of Camden………………………………………………………11 SECTION 3: Establishing Residency ……………………………………………………… 15 SECTION 4: Conclusions……………………………………………………………...........39 SECTION 5: Bibliography…………………………………………………………………..40 APPENDIX A: Property Report Cards: 753-755 Walnut Street, Camden (1958-9) Sanborn Map: 700 Block of Walnut Street, Camden (1950) APPENDIX B: 700 Walnut Street, Camden: City Block Reconstruction APPENDIX C: Timeline of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Activity (June 1948-May 1951) APPENDIX D: Oral History/Email Interview Transcripts PLEASE NOTE: This is a revised version of the Final Report initially submitted to the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office on November 30, 2017. It incorporates the addition of a transcribed interview of Camden resident Ms. Thelma Lowery in Appendix D (appearing on pages 136-146), as well as analysis of the same in the report narrative. Bibliographical Investigation: MLK and 753 Walnut Street Final Report 1 Background: In November 2016, Stockton University responded to a Call for Proposals issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Historic Preservation Office (HPO). The final scope of work was completed in late January 2017 and a preliminary report submitted in August of the same year. The HPO sought a biographical investigation of Martin Luther King, Jr. and, more specifically, the potential significance of 753 Walnut Street, Camden, New Jersey, to his life, philosophy, and subsequent activism. Stockton’s research team, under the direction of Dr. John F. O’Hara, Associate Professor of General Studies, and Mr. Paul W. Schopp, Assistant Director for the university’s South Jersey Culture and History Center (SJCHC), included Dr. Michelle McDonald, Associate Professor of History and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, as well as two graduate students in the Master of Arts in American Studies Program (MAAS), Brianna Cardinale and Kymberly Bylone. Additional consultation came from Dr. Thomas Kinsella, Professor of Literature and Director of the SJCHC, and Dr. Robert Gregg, Professor of History and Dean of the School of General Studies. The research team’s objective was to provide the HPO with an independent evaluation of evidence related to both the quantity and quality of time Martin Luther King, Jr. may have spent at 753 Walnut Street between 1948 and 1951, while he studied at Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland (Chester), Pennsylvania. In particular, the team sought any evidence of the impact King’s potential time spent at this property may have had on his formative experiences before emerging as a prominent civil rights leader. This report summarizes this work in five sections: The property at 753 Walnut Street has been a site of historical interest since early 2015, when Camden County resident Patrick Duff began investigating the location after learning of a criminal complaint that Walter R. McCall filed in the early hours of June 12, 1950 in the township of Maple Shade, Burlington County, New Jersey. The complaint alleges that the night before, a Sunday night, Ernest Nichols, the proprietor of Mary’s Place Tavern, “did willfully refuse to serve beverages of any kind, used profane and obscene language, and intimidation by weapon to the complainants named above.” A handwritten addendum alleges discriminatory intent, noting: “amended as follows—such refusal being by reason of complainants [sic] color in violation of R.S. 10:1-3 [e.g., exclusion based on race] and supplements thereto.” Bibliographical Investigation: MLK and 753 Walnut Street Final Report 3 to preserve and commemorate the physical structure at 753 Walnut Street. He has also publicized his efforts, and created a coalition of residents, local officials and agencies advocating for preservation of the building for its historical association with King. These include the Camden County Branch of the NAACP, Father Michael Doyle of Sacred Heart Church, and Heart of Camden, an urban nonprofit development organization associated with Sacred Heart.2 In early 2015, the Courier-Post reported on Duff’s efforts in relation to 753 Walnut and his “central thesis…that Camden, South Jersey, and the region, shaped King, turning him towards his life’s work.”3 Newsworks and NBC-10 Philadelphia reported that same week on Duff’s “fight to save” King’s “former home in Camden.”4 In an interview, Duff discussed the importance of historic preservation, “to know the history that Martin Luther King actually lived here, studied here, and that one of the great civil rights leaders in the world was formulated partially in this house.”5 Duff subsequently appealed to the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office (HPO), housed within the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, to nominate the property for the New Jersey Register of Historic Places. Throughout 2016, efforts to preserve and restore the property expanded. In August 2016, Camden Mayor Dana Redd and U.S. Representative Donald Norcross wrote letters to the HPO supporting Duff’s application. Mayor Reed’s letter cited “abundant evidence that places Martin Luther King, Jr. living at this address, on and off, for a period of two years [and]…links the property and the City of Camden to Dr. King’s very first civil rights action.”6 Congressman Norcross’s letter asks the HPO to “consider designating [the property] a historically valuable 7 landmark worthy of preserving.” 2 In 2011, the latter two also previously supported efforts to restore another property in Camden, 940 Newton Avenue, a residence that King also allegedly visited during his time in the region. See: Steve Wood, “Preserving a Dream,” Courier-Post (January 11, 2011). See also: Jason Laday, “Camden House Where MLK Visited Now Occupied ‘by drug dealers and prostitutes,’” South Jersey Times via Nj.com, September 19, 2014; efforts to investigate that property further have ceased: http://www nj.com/camden/index.ssf/2014/09/camden house where martin luther king visited now occupied by drug users and prostitutes html . 3 Kevin C. Shelley, “Details uncovered about MLK’s former Camden home,” Courier-Post, February 17, 2015, http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/local/south-jersey/2015/02/17/camden-home-part-history/23576021/ 4 Aaron Moselle, “Camden Man Fights to Save House Where Martin Luther King Stayed,” Newsworks.org online, NBC-10, February 15, 2015, http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/NJ-Man-Fights-to-Save-House-Where- Martin-Luther-King-Jr-Stayed-291502631 html 5 Christina Lobrutto, “Camden House Where MLK Once Stayed Could Become Civil Rights Headquarters,” PhillyVoice, February 15, 2015, http://www.phillyvoice.com/camden-house-mlk-civil-rights-headquarters/ 6 Quoted in Ryanne Persinger, “Support Continues for Preservation of MLK Camden Home,” The Philadelphia Tribune, August 23, 2016, http://www.phillytrib.com/news/support-continues-for-preservation-of-mlk-camden- home/article e593ffd6-5f90-5c8a-9f1f-f9d2936b8192 html 7 Quoted in Phaedra Tretham, “Norcross Offers Support in Preserving Camden Site,” Courier Post, August 12, 2016, http://www.phillytrib.com/news/support-continues-for-preservation-of-mlk-camden-home/article e593ffd6- 5f90-5c8a-9f1f-f9d2936b8192.html Bibliographical Investigation: MLK and 753 Walnut Street Final Report 4 In September 2016, Congressman Norcross hosted fellow Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis (D-GA) in Camden. At an event held outside the property, Congressman Lewis asserted that, “The history of the civil rights movement has roots right here in South Jersey.” “This house [753 Walnut St.],” he continued, “stands as a link to Dr. King’s life and legacy, and preserving it will affirm his rightful place in Camden’s history, and our country’s history…[and] can serve as a touchstone for generations to come as they learn about Dr. King and his deeds.”8 New Jersey State Senator Tom Kean joined the calls for preservation, issuing a statement the following day: “It’s been suggested that Dr. King’s experiences while living in Camden led to his later involvement in the fight to end racial discrimination, segregation and poverty…Adding [753 Walnut] to the state’s historic registry will prevent it from being demolished and make it eligible for grants to help with its long term preservation.”9 Senator Kean co-sponsored a bill, New Jersey Senate Concurrent Resolution 126, urging the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the HPO to place “the former Martin Luther King, Jr., residence…on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places.” The resolution passed the Senate on November 14, and the Assembly on November 21, 2016, both unanimously. In the time between the resolution’s introduction and passage, the Camden City Historic Preservation Commission designated 753 Walnut Street a historic property on October 27, 2016, and the Cooper’s Ferry Partnership, a city nonprofit, approached Ms. Jeanette Lily M. Hunt about the viability of their acquiring the property and acting as custodian, pending decisions about preservation and repair (final sale of the property to Cooper’s Ferry Partnership, however, was never completed). The City of Camden offered to donate an adjacent lot. The Rutgers University-Camden Law School organized a nonprofit for the combined property, and the Camden