A Child’s-Eye View of Martin Luther King Jr.

Just in time for the federal holiday that celebrates him, the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta has opened a Discovery Center offering a child’s-eye view of human rights struggles.

“Children of Courage: Young People and the Struggle for Civil Rights” portrays segregation in the 1930s, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s and human rights issues around the world today. It uses narrative panels, interactive computer kiosks and “discovery drawers” containing segregation signs, music from protest movements, stereotypical dolls and toys, and other period items.

Young visitors can also take home lists of Jim Crow laws and their own map of the Auburn Avenue neighborhood in downtown Atlanta where King was born and reared. The historic site, visited by about 500,000 people a year, includes King’s childhood home, Ebenezer Church where he preached, his tomb and other sites.

The park is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily year-round (and to 6 p.m. between Memorial Day and Labor Day). Admission is free. Telephone (404) 331-5190.