Why Was It Important That Dr. Martin Luther King Not Sneeeze

This Is My Granddaughters Essay:
Dashay Mcshan
Steubenville, OH
Garfield Elementary
4th Grade


Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was not able do any very heavy breathing, coughing or sneezing on a Saturday afternoon in 1958.
In 1956 Dr. King had great success with the Montgomery bus boycott. During this time Dr. King brought a lot of attention to himself both good and bad. He came in contact with many very famous people during this time, while others were not happy with his success.
On the Saturday afternoon of September 20, 1958 Dr. King was in Harlem, New York, promoting and signing autographs for his first book called “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story” in Blumstein’s Department store. The 29yr old Dr. King was surrounded by hundreds of people while he sat in the store signing copies of his book. A lady named Izola Curry that was very sick came to his table and stabbed him in the chest with a 7 inches long letter opener. Dr. King was rushed by ambulance to the hospital with the steel letter opener still in his chest. Many hours later a team of surgeons performed emergency surgery to remove the letter opener.
Dr Aubrey Maynard performed the delicate and dangerous operation in which his whole chest had to be opened. Dr. Maynard is the one that said to Dr. King, if you had sneezed during all those hours of waiting, the razor tip of the letter opener that had been touching his heart would have killed him. Dr. King did not take the incident personally. On September 30, 1958, while still in the hospital he asked that she not be put in jail but be treated in a hospital. Sphere: Related Content