Three events Monday will honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, starting with a scholarship breakfast and ending with a memorial program at the Vicksburg Auditorium.

The Omicron Rho Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Inc. will hold its 30th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast Monday at 8:30 a.m. at the Vicksburg Convention Center on Mulberry Street.

The program is hosted by the Omicron Rho Lambda Educational Foundation. The featured speaker will be Dr. Everett B. Ward, general president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and president of Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“Through our foundation we give away scholarships and support a mentoring program for youth between the ages of 12 and 18,” program coordinator Edward L. Huell Jr. said. “We do this annually on the Martin Luther King holiday.”

Money from the breakfast helps fund scholarships for graduating high school seniors, book scholarships to graduating seniors from the fraternity’s mentoring program.

The fraternity also gives out $100 scholarships to seventh-grade students attending Vicksburg and Warren Central Junior high schools, who write an essay, “What Does Dr. Martin Luther King Mean to Me.”

City officials will hold a ceremony at 11 a.m. to name the City Hall Annex after Robert Walker, the city’s first elected African American mayor and former Warren County Supervisor.

At 6 p.m., the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Day Committee, First Mississippi Chapter of Blacks In Government, the Vicksburg Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the city of Vicksburg will host its 33rd Annual communitywide program to remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Vicksburg Auditorium, 901 Monroe St.

The program’s theme is “Remember, Celebrate, Act: A Day On, Not A Day Off.”  Its subtheme is “Injustice Anywhere Is A Threat To Justice Everywhere.”

Guest speaker for the program is state Appeals Court Judge Latrice Westbrooks.

The program will feature music from Miss Vicksburg Alexis Murrell accompanied by Travanti Hill, and the NAACP Vicksburg Branch Mass Choir under the direction of Dewayne Griffin, featuring soloists Deatra Robinson Cable, Madalene Mayfield, Lauren Byes, and Marquis Goodwin. 

Other program participants include the Vicksburg High School JROTC under the direction of Col. Columbus Hood, city and county officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers commanders and officials. The event is free.

Vicksburg National Military Park will also have a fee free day during regular park hours Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.