January Festivities Pay Tribute To Civil Rights Heroes

Staff of Atlanta’s Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site recently ushered in a two-week tribute to Dr. King and other civil rights heroes with a celebration of King’s actual birthday on January 15th.  Special guest Christine King Farris, sister of Martin Luther King, Jr., read to area schoolchildren from her book, My Brother Martin: Memoirs of a Childhood with Martin Luther King, Jr.  The event marked the sixth consecutive year Mrs. Farris participated in the celebration, which also included a puppet show about Dr. King designed by park staff.

A musical tribute on January 17th featuring the US Naval Academy Jazz Band and New Orleans’ Free Agent Second Line Band, with a keynote address by Hakim Primus of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, offered visitors an opportunity to reflect on the life and times of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thousands of people converged upon the historic site on the King Holiday, January 19th, to visit the park and participate in signature events organized by the King Center and the Martin Luther King, Jr. March Committee.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Commemorative Service was not held at historic Ebenezer Baptist Church — Dr. King’s home church — as it had been for 39 years until the structure closed for restoration in 2007.  When it reopens in late 2009, historic Ebenezer will be returned to its 1960s appearance when King was co-pastor there.  The new Ebenezer Church directly across the street, however, opened its doors for the occasion where Senator Saxby Chambliss (GA), Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, and keynote speaker Pastor Rick Warren of Lake Forest, California’s Saddleback Church joined other dignitaries for the King Holiday service.

On the following day, January 20th, more than one thousand additional visitors braved frigid weather conditions to participate in public viewings of the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama at the park’s Visitor Center.  Screenings were offered in the visitor center theater and outdoors along the Peace Plaza. 

Footsteps of thirteen new civil rights icons were recently added to the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site.  The sixth annual induction ceremony of the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame was held January 24th, honoring Reverend Dr. C.M. Alexander; entrepreneur Danny J. Bakewell, Sr.; humanitarian Dr. Erieka Bennett; businessman and philanthropist Roberto Goizueta; entrepreneur Cathy Hughes; athlete and entrepreneur Earvin “Magic” Johnson; civic organization The Links, Incorporated; former Atlanta Mayor Sam Massell; former New Orleans Mayor Ernest N. Morial; Father Michael L. Pfleger; Reverend Al Sharpton, Congressman William L. Clay, Sr. and Reverend C. T. Vivian.

Created by Xernona Clayton of the Trumpet Awards Foundation and the National Park Service in 2004, the Walk gives recognition to the foot soldiers of justice who sacrificed and struggled to make equality a reality for all.  The Walk resembles a parade of two foot by two foot granite squares imported from Africa and embedded into the Visitor Center promenade at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site.  The actual shoes of each honoree, used to create the footstep impressions on the granite markers bearing their respective names, were also on display during the induction ceremony. 

The Walk of Fame induction ceremony capped off the King Historic Site’s commemoration of the twenty-third national holiday honoring civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

Photograph galleries of all featured events are available on the park’s website at www.nps.gov/malu/.

Rangers from Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Ocmulgee National Monument, Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park and Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area provided security on park land during the events.