On January 15, 1929 Michael Luther King, Jr. was born and raised in this home in the Sweet Auburn District of Atlanta. His mother was a school teacher and his father a Baptist minister. The street where he was raised as a boy was approximately a mile and half of Auburn area and was known as an affluent African American neighborhood at that time.

This area, like many inner city areas, fell to crime and poor investment in the decades to follow. In 1976, it became a National Historical Area but continued to be a neighborhood of abandoned homes. However in 1992, the National Trust took over and since then over 100 residential homes have been restored or rebuilt. The neighborhood remains a tourist attraction, but has developed into a prominent inner city neighborhood again.

The MLK boyhood home is still there, full restored as a museum, and may be toured by the general public. The neighborhood continues to grow and thrive.