Celebration set to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
A celebration will be held Monday to honor the life of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Northwest Alabama Chapter of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Committee will host its annual celebration in Russellville this year. The event is held in Franklin County every third year as it rotates with Colbert and Lauderdale counties.
This year’s theme is “Celebrate – Act A Day On, Not A Day Off.”
The activities will actually begin Sunday afternoon with a gospel concert by an all-male chorus from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Galilee MB Church in Leighton. A reception will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. that night at Russellville City Hall for Maj. General Willie A. Alexander, who will be the keynote speaker for Monday’s address.
Buses with police escorts will depart from several locations in the Shoals Monday morning, bringing participants to the Chucky Mullins Center in Russellville. Buses will leave Greater St. Paul AME Church in Florence and the Lauderdale County Courthouse at 9:15 a.m., from Gaston Chapel PB Church in Sheffield at 9:30 a.m. and Mt. Carmel MB Church in Tuscumbia at 9:45 a.m.
Arrival at the Mullins Center is scheduled at around 10:15 a.m. Monday. Marchers will leave the Mullins Center at 11 a.m. and march to the Franklin County Courthouse.
The MLK program at the courthouse takes place from 12 to 1:30 p.m. and will conclude with Alexander’s address.
In October 1972 Alexander joined the Alabama Army National Guard and served in a number of key leadership positions with the 167th Support Command in Birmingham and Montgomery until 1991.
In June 1995 he was promoted to Brigadier General, making him the first black person to be promoted to General Officer in the history of the Alabama National Guard. He was assigned as Assistant Adjutant General for Army, Alabama National Guard.
General Alexander was next assigned as Deputy Commander, 167th Support Command in January 1997.
On Jan. 18, 1999, Alexander was appointed as Adjutant General of Alabama by Gov. Don Siegelman, again making him the first African American in the history of the Alabama National Guard to hold that position.
Immediately following the MLK program at 1:30 p.m., the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Luncheon will take place at the A. W. Todd Center.
