MCC hosts program honoring King

By By Lynette Wilson / staff writer
Jan. 16, 2003
In 1993, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became the first black American to be honored with a national holiday.
On Friday, area residents will meet in Meridian Community College's McCain Theater to celebrate the life and the work of King the civil rights leader who was slain on April 4, 1968, in Memphis.
The program, called "Sharing the Dream," will begin at 11 a.m.
The guest speaker will be state Sen. Alice Harden, D-Jackson. Harden is the chairman of the Senate Education Committee and the first black woman elected to the state Senate.
Kay Dufour, program coordinator, said the program is special because it involves the entire community not just MCC students.
Dufour said last year's crowed spilled into the hallway and that televisions had to be setup in classrooms so that everyone could watch the program.
Annie Burns, program chairman, said the program touches the entire community and that helps to keep King's legacy alive.
Essay contest
Burns said that as part of the commemoration, sixth- and seventh-grade students were asked to write essays based on the program's theme.
More than 50 students submitted essays, and the two first-place winners will read theirs during the first half of the program.
Dufour said the essays came from Meridian and Lauderdale County schools, St. Patrick and Lamar, and that she was impressed by the writing.
The two first-place essay winners will receive a $50 cash prize and be invited to ride in Monday's fourth annual Martin Luther King Jr. Parade and Celebration in Meridian.
St. Patrick School sixth-grader Alona Harper, 12, first-place winner in her class, said she found her inspiration for her essay in a black history textbook.
She said her parents, Bill and Doris Harper, have also contributed to her knowledge of King.
Twelve-year-old Corsica Wade, a seventh-grader at Carver Middle School and winner in her class, said she studied King in the sixth grade.
Here are the winners of the Martin Luther King Jr. "Share the Dream" essay contest.
Sixth-grade
1st place: Alona Harper, St. Patrick School.
2nd place: Donesha King, Carver Middle School.
3rd place: David Meet, St. Patrick School, and Emily Roland, Northeast Middle School.
Seventh-grade
1st place: Corsica Wade, Carver Middle School.
2nd place: Sarah Hicks, Lamar School.
3rd place: Shyniqua Sims, Carver Middle School; Richard Cole, St. Patrick School.