Volunteers gather to fix fire damage at Camden, N.J., home where Martin Luther King Jr. once lived: report

Volunteers by the dozens reportedly paid tribute on Monday to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. by gathering to repair fire damage at the Camden, N.J., home where the late civil rights leader once lived.

The plan is to turn the abandoned row house at 753 Walnut St. into a museum to commemorate the city’s connection to King, who called the place home while a seminary student, NJ.com reported, citing local historians.

More than 30 students from Rutgers-Camden and Rowan University’s Cooper Medical School reportedly volunteered in the cleanup effort. The group also included state First Lady Tammy Murphy, wife of Gov. Phil Murphy.

“We are all in this together,” she was quoted as saying. “I’m thrilled you’re here, again, on this bitterly cold day to remember an amazing man.”

The volunteers collected trash, organized coats for people in need and did other work to start restoring the home, which was severely damaged in a fire in March of last year, NJ.com reported.

Advocates are working to get the house designated as a prominent site in the Civil Rights Movement in Camden, but funding struggles and other obstacles have gotten in the way. Still, things finally seem to be moving along, Amir Khan, head of the nonprofit group that is leading the way, told NJ.com.

Someday, Khan and others say, the home will be restored enough to contain a walk-through exhibit commemorating King’s time in Camden — he lived there from 1948 to 1951 while attending the since-closed the Crozer Theological Seminary, about 20 miles away — as well as Camden’s connection to the Civil Rights Movement.

After the museum is done, plans are afoot to create the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social Justice on the 10,000-square-foot lot next door. The effort could receive grant money from money awarded to the city in 2021 by the New Jersey Historic Trust.

“This is an exciting time,” Khan told the newspaper. “It’s bringing history to Camden, New Jersey and all the greatness that came out of Camden.”

For the volunteers, it was a chance to give back.

“The people of Camden give us so many opportunities to learn,” second-year med student Kelly Lambert told NJ.com. “This is kind of our opportunity to give back to them.”

With News Wire Services