MLK: A Close Call In Harlem

One of the most interesting document collections in TSG's archive involves the first attempt on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr..

In September 1958, Izola Ware Curry, a deranged New York City woman, stabbed King with a letter opener during a book signing in Harlem. The civil rights leader barely survived the attack, which is described in these police, court, and hospital records and a remarkable two-page statement King issued from his bed at Harlem Hospital. "Today it was I," he wrote. "Tomorrow it could be another leader or any man, woman or child who will be the victim of lawlessness and brutality." (2 pages)