Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., would have turned 87-years-old on Jan. 15.

On his national holiday, the residents of Vicksburg celebrated Dr. King with a full day of service, which concluded with the 30th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Birthday Celebration.

“His legacy struggles, it resonates in the minds of older individuals who were in the struggle. The privileged generation among us has yet to realize how hard and difficult his struggle was,” said the Rev. Dr. Isiac Jackson Jr., president of the General Missionary Baptist State Convention of Mississippi, Inc.

Jackson served as the guest speaker for the celebration and Warren Central High School senior Lylen Colby Fisher served as the Mistress of Ceremonies.

Eddie Howard, Nathan Mosley and Brandon Scott of the Calvary’s Worship, Praise and Harmony – under the direction of Mr. Travanti Hill – sang two spiritual selections between greetings and the introduction of Jackson.

Jackson believes that events like the Dr. King memorial program help keep his memory and legacy alive and are becoming better.

“I remember some years ago when we first started this it was hard to get a group of people out to go march,” Jackson said. “I noticed that people are starting to work hard to make these events successful.”

Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., while advocating against the unequal wages of sanitation workers in 1968. If he were alive today, Jackson believes Dr. King would be advocating for the Affordable Care Act.

“I think it’s a shame that every citizen doesn’t have affordable health care I think it’s needed.”

For the event to be put on, Bobbie Bingham Morrow said it took a lot of coordination with different organizations — Corps of Engineers officers, law enforcement, the city and county board of supervisors and greek-lettered organizations.

Morrow shares Jackson’s sentiments of having celebration events to honor Dr. King’s history.

“Dr. King left a legacy that our children and that a lot of us older adults don’t understand. We don’t understand why we need to vote. We don’t understand who paved the path for us to vote,” Morrow said. “We need to understand that there was an individual who sacrificed his life so that we could have. That’s the significance.”

Morrow said that King is still giving through the places like the King Center in Atlanta, Ga., the work of his children and the rippling effect his work has in today’s society.

“He’s giving through his children, especially through Bernice. She gives powerful sermons and a lot of the sermons she gives are based off what her dad taught her,” Morrow said. “He’s still giving just because of what he did, the fact that we have to the footage to show it, to show the marches, to hear his sermons.”

The Martin Luther King parade in Vicksburg was put on hold this year, however, Morrow wanted to reassure that the parade has found a committee and will return.
Morrow said the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Day Committee, in conjunction with the city of Vicksburg will be putting on the parade.

“We will be consulting with the city of Vicksburg and any other entities that would like to be involved. The sponsor of the parade will be the Dr. King Memorial committee,” Morrow said. “It’s unfortunate that we didn’t have a parade this year. No one is at fault, especially the Mayor.”