King Narrowly Escaped an Assassination Attempt a Decade Before His Death
On September 20, 1958, Martin Luther King Jr. was surrounded by a small group of people in a department store in Harlem's shoe department. They came to meet the 29-year-old pastor who was signing copies of Stride Toward Freedom, his memoir on the year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott, in a roped-off area of Blumstein's Department Store. A 42-year-old African American woman wearing sequined cat eye specs and a sharp suit sneaked past the 20 people in line and approached the civil rights activist as he was signing a book. She asked in a thick Southern drawl, "Are you Martin Luther King?" "Yes," King answered. Without warning, the woman leaned over the desk and slashed King's chest with a seven-inch penknife so forcefully that the handle cracked. Izola Ware Curry was restrained by bystanders until she could be taken into custody. He's been on my radar for six years. I'm happy I did it!" she exclaimed.
King remained alert and composed despite the commotion and yelling as a bloodstain covered his white cotton shirt. "That's OK, thanks. He assured his terrified followers who were debating whether to use the penknife that everything would be okay. Fortunately, nobody attempted it since it might have been fatal as King's aorta, the main artery supplying blood from the heart to the rest of his body, was only a fraction of an inch away from the steel point of the blade.
King had to undergo several hours of complicated emergency surgery when the blade tip came to rest next to his aorta. King was later informed by surgeons that a single sneeze may have killed him. King released a statement from his hospital bed, where he spent weeks recovering, defending his nonviolent convictions and claiming he had no ill intent toward his mentally ill assailant.
