A Lesser Known Assassination Attempt On Martin Luther King Jr.

In His Own Words

“And I want to thank God, once more, for allowing me to be here with you. (Yes sir) You know, several years ago I was in New York City autographing the first book that I had written. And while sitting there autographing books, a demented black woman came up. The only question I heard from her was, "Are you Martin Luther King?" And I was looking down writing and I said, "Yes."

The next minute I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital. It was a dark Saturday afternoon. And that blade had gone through, and the X rays revealed that the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta, the main artery. And once that's punctured you're drowned in your own blood, that's the end of you. (Yes sir) It came out in the New York Times the next morning that if I had merely sneezed, I would have died.”

(Source: Martin Luther King Jr. speech of 8/3/1968  “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”, see full text e.g. here; emphasis added)

Import

Like most people I have learnt that there was a bomb attack on MLK’s house committed by a white person. We all know it was a white man who shot MLK.

Thus, I was stunned to read today for the first time that there was also a black woman who came close to assassinate MLK. Curiously, the Wikipedia entry on MLK does not mention this event. Who was this black woman? Was she really demented as MLK claims? Was it a white conspiracy to kill MLK?

Izola Curry

She was the “black demented woman”. Wikipedia actually has an article on her. According to this article MLK was not stabbed with a knife, but with a letter opener. Otherwise, we do not learn much about this woman and her motives from this article. Has no journalist visited her?

Stanford University also has an article on her. From this article we learn (emphasis added):

“After stabbing King, Curry was arrested at the scene and found carrying a loaded gun. When questioned by police at New York’s 28th precinct, she accused civil rights leaders of “boycotting” and “torturing” her as well as causing her to lose jobs and forcing her to change her religion (Curry, Statement to Howard Jones, 21 September 1958). Curry also suggested that dangerous connections were being forged between the civil rights movement and the Communist Party. After authorities informed her that she was being charged with felonious assault and possession of firearms, she reportedly replied, “I’m charging him [King] as well as he’s charging me…I’m charging him with being mixed up with the Communists” (“Dr. King’s Knifer,” [New York Times] 22 September 1962).”

[Unfortunately, I did not have the time to retrieve this NYT article]

Was she really demented despite the fact that she was committed to an institution for the criminally insane (according to Wikipedia and Stanford University)?

Not to be misunderstood, there is absolutely no justification whatsoever for anyone to attempt to kill MLK.