PHOTOS: The King Center Celebrates 50th Birthday In Atlanta

Balloons outside the King Center signal the celebration of its 50th birthday.

Kaitlyn Lewis / WABE

In 1968, Coretta Scott King founded the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Change after her husband’s death. Tuesday marked 50 years since its founding.

The King Center hosted a celebration to honor Coretta and celebrate its birthday. Atlantans came to eat cake, dance to music and see special performances by local musicians and poets later Tuesday evening.

The center also set up a couple voting booths encouraging people to register and vote in the upcoming elections.

Food trucks came to Auburn Avenue as the community celebrated together.

Letty Ashworth, the senior director of Marketing and Development at the King Center, said that there is no other place like this in the world and praised Coretta’s foresight in creating an auditorium in the center, which is now used for performances, talks and other events.