Photos: Isseu Diouf Campbell
New Heritage Theatre Group and Michael Green’s Shades of Truth Theatre created on September 20, 2018 in Harlem, a dramatic re-enactment of events that took place 60 years ago.
On September 20th, 1958, 29-year-old Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was in Harlem autographing his book Stride Toward Freedom, about the Montgomery Alabama bus boycott in front of Blumstein’s Department Store on West 125th Street. A deranged woman, 42-year-old Isola Ware Curry, attacked Dr. King with a 7-inch steel letter opener, driving it so deeply into his chest that the tip of the opener rested on King’s aorta, the artery that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Dr. King was rushed to Harlem Hospital where an esteemed team of doctors led by Dr. Aubre’ Maynard and including Dr. John Cordice and Dr. Emil Naclario and others successfully operated on Dr. King for 21/2 hours, removing the letter opener.
To acknowledge the 60th commemoration of the incident that almost changed history, Touro College and Harlem Hospital in partnership with the National Action Network, NAACP, The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce and 100 Black Men presented The Day Harlem Saved Dr. King, a multimedia and theatrical re-enactment of the events at two Harlem locations: Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine and Harlem Hospital.
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