Buzz
On September 20, 1958, Martin Luther King Jr. was seated calmly in the shoe department of Blumstein’s Department Store, a letter opener sticking out of his chest and a growing bloodstain spreading across his white shirt.
King had visited the Harlem, New York, store to autograph copies of his book Stride Toward Freedom, which detailed the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The event proceeded without incident until a elegantly dressed woman bypassed the line, confirmed King’s identity, and plunged the blade deep into his chest. A security guard and a journalist apprehended her before she could escape, while the onlookers erupted into chaos. King, however, remained composed. “It’s okay,” he assured everyone. “Everything will be fine.”
A Narrow Escape
The pressing concern was whether to extract the blade embedded in King's chest before transporting him to the hospital. One woman attempted but cut her fingers on its sharp edges, leading everyone to agree that the task should be left to medical professionals. This choice likely saved King’s life, though its significance wasn’t apparent at the time. “It was a miracle that no one removed the blade,” chief surgeon Dr. Aubré de Lambert Maynard later remarked.
As History.com reports, an ambulance eventually arrived and rushed King to Harlem Hospital, where he underwent surgery for over two hours. His primary surgeons included Dr. Emil Naclerio, a first-generation Italian American, and Dr. John W.V. Cordice Jr., a former physician for the Tuskegee Airmen. They discovered the letter opener was perilously close to King’s aorta, making it impossible to remove through the existing wound. Instead, they removed two of King’s ribs to safely extract the weapon.
Following the surgery, Naclerio highlighted the gravity of the situation. “If Dr. King had sneezed or coughed, the blade would have pierced his aorta. He was literally a sneeze away from death,” he said, as reported by Jet magazine.
A Compassionate Survivor
While King recovered in his hospital bed, his attacker was identified as 42-year-old Izola Ware Curry, who believed King and other civil rights leaders had conspired against her and collaborated with communists. Authorities found her unfit for trial and committed her to a psychiatric facility after diagnosing her with paranoid schizophrenia on October 20. Shortly after, a recuperated King arrived at the airport in Montgomery, Alabama, and publicly expressed his empathy for Curry.
Martin Luther King Jr. before a speaking engagement in London, 1961. | J. Wilds/Keystone/Getty Images“I can honestly say I hold no bitterness toward her, and I’ve felt no anger since the moment this tragic event happened,” King told the crowd. “I hope she receives the care she needs to become a productive member of an integrated society, where a troubled mind doesn’t pose a threat to anyone.”
The incident strengthened King’s resolve to advocate for nonviolence. Meanwhile, Naclerio’s remark about being “a sneeze away from death” deeply resonated with his supporters. “I just wanted to write and say how relieved I am that you didn’t sneeze,” a high school student wrote to King in a heartfelt letter.
On April 3, 1968, the day before his tragic death, King gave his final speech at a temple in Memphis, Tennessee. During his address, he recalled the letter and reflected on the pivotal moments in the civil rights movement he would have missed had he sneezed. “I’m so grateful I didn’t sneeze,” he declared.
