Memphis will finally name a street after Martin Luther King Jr.

Forty-four years after Martin Luther King Jr's death there will finally be a MLK street in Memphis, Tennessee -- ironically the city where the civil rights legend was murdered...

TheGrio Staff

Mar 15, 2012

There are a total of 900 cities with streets named after Martin Luther King Jr. Forty-four years after his death there will finally be one in Memphis, Tennessee — ironically the city where the civil rights legend was murdered. Many critics believe that this honor is long overdue. CNN reports:

Forty-four years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down on the balcony of a Memphis hotel, the Tennessee city is overcoming what some call protracted guilt and embarrassment, and naming a street in his honor.

A nearly 1-mile stretch of Linden Avenue will be renamed Dr. M.L. King Jr. Avenue on April 4, the anniversary of the civil rights leader’s assassination.

The honor has been a long time coming.

More than 900 U.S. cities have streets named after King. The largest concentration is in the South, led by Georgia, which has more than 70 roads named after the Atlanta native, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia.

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