And finally, as we celebrate the life and impact of Dr. martin luther King jr. Today, activists in new jersey are pushing to secure his legacy within the state.

They say the civil rights icon lived in camden for a short time as he was forming his historic nonviolent civil rights platform.

The home is already recognized by the city, but has so far been denied historic status from the state because of conflicting research.

Melissa Rose Cooper spoke to the group trying to turn the dilapidated building into a historic museum.

The house is in deplorable conditions.

We had a fire here back earlier last year.

Yet Amir Khan says this house at 753 Walnut Street in Camden is part of the city's history that needs to be told.

This is the house where Dr. King stayed during the summers and weekends from 1948 to 1951 while he was a student at Crosier Theological Seminary in Chester, P.A..

So during that time, obviously, the school was mostly white.

His best friend was staying here as well.

But the most important thing was, was that on that special day on June 11th, 1950, when Dr. King died on those steps and was warned when he was getting ready to go down to the local cafe, Mary's Cafe in Maple Shade, New Jersey.

Khan says historical records show Dr. Martin Luther King and his friends went to the Cafe in Maple Shade, where they were threatened and refused service.

The incident is what is believed to have sparked Dr. King's nonviolent approach in the fight for civil rights.

After charges were filed against the White Cafe owner, now Kahn and other local advocates are working to turn this house into a museum.

People can walk in.

They can actually walk on the steps of Dr. King walk.

They can see the chair that Dr. King actually sat in and prepared his messages.

The home was added to the city's historic site registry in 2016, and state lawmakers passed a resolution requesting the state make a similar designation.

But it was denied based on a 2017 Stockton research paper questioning Dr. King's residence here.

Researcher and civil rights activist Patrick Duff, who discovered the home in 2014, says he promised the previous owner that he would get it memorialized.

It's been really difficult because they've not recognize it and a lot of people think that that they're wrong in not recognizing it, including John Lewis, who came to this house and said this house must be saved for future generations unborn.

New Jersey ACP, which drafted a letter to the state of New Jersey's Historical Preservation Office, asking for this to be placed on the registry.

It's critical.

It's part of history.

And so the fact that it's a part of history, then everybody needs to know.

So whatever we can do to allow the awareness, then that's what we want to do.

Roughly $100,000 in funding from the state Historic trust is now being used for additional research into Camden's connections to the civil rights movement and Dr. King's connection to the area.

Just knowing that and having an understanding that that energy was a was there and a presence was there, that's great for the city and our community to know that I'm a person of that caliber who has meant so much to millions and millions of people within the city of Camden.

Once the study is complete and validated, the next steps will be to designate the sites of the states and national historical registers.

For NJ Spotlight News.

I'm Melissa Rose Cooper.