September 20, 1958 If He Had Only Sneezed

The Blackman Read Aloud Hour Project
Thank God He Didn't Sneeze
September 20, 1958
Blumstein's Department Store
Harlem, New York

On this day 62 years ago Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was stabbed by a deranged black woman Izola Ware Curry with an ivory-handled​ ​letter opener that rested almost on the edges of his aorta. It was said by the operating surgeon that had Dr. King merely sneezed he would've drowned in his own blood. Today, The Blackman Read Aloud Hour Project reads about that fateful event that almost changed the path of this nation. A simple sneeze and Dr. King at 29-years of age wouldn't have been around to change this nation's path towards some semblance of equality. I also will spend a few moments reading the words Dr. King spoke on April 3, 1968,​ as he remembered that incident in the Harlem Department store.​