There are several upcoming programs planned to celebrate the legacy of late civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Scotland County NAACP Youth Council will hold the 2013 King celebration on Jan. 15 at St. Andrews University Avinger Auditorium. That program begins at 6 p.m. and is free to the public.
This year’s speaker is Pastor Alford Dudley, senior pastor at Unionville Missionary Baptist Church in Laurinburg.
Expected to perform are Voices of Unity of Scotland County, Unionville Missionary Baptist Church, Franklin Chapel AME Zion church and Focus Mime ministry.
The Winston Salem youth group, Authoring Action is expected to kickoff the celebration with a performance.
The theme this year is economic and personal freedom.
St. Andrews celebrates
St. Andrews University will be the site of an additional program to honor King on Jan. 21.
The school will hold its own MLK event at 6 p.m. in Avinger Auditorium on the university’s campus. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be a celebration in song, featuring the North Carolina A&T State University Fellowship Gospel Choir.
“We are truly excited to bring back this incredibly talented group of performers for our celebration,” said Dr. Rona Leach McLeod, chair of the event’s planning committee.
The Fellowship Gospel Choir was organized in 1969 as an avenue through which students at North Carolina A&T State University could maintain continuity with the Black religious experience. Its aim was to keep alive those religious traditions that have been profoundly expressed in spirituals and the gospels. A vital part of the Student Affairs Division at A&T, the choir supports the United Christian Fellowship through performances in the region.
Additional performances at the Jan. 21 celebration will be given by the St. Andrews University Choir, retired local educator Allyn McLean and St. Andrews Choir Master Ed Williams.
St. Andrews began a formal program of celebration for King in 2005. A Day of Service element, which allows students, faculty and staff members to spend the day working in service to non-profit organizations in the community, was added in 2010 to more fully acknowledge the legacy left by King.
There is also a program planned in neighboring Moore County at Sandhills Community College
The Rev. Dr. Harry S. Wright will speak at a Martin Luther King, Jr. observance on Jan. 18 at 11 am in Owens Auditorium. The public is invited to attend this free event.
A Bennettsville, SC native, Wright is the former pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, and pastor emeritus of the historic Cornerstone Baptist Church of Brooklyn, NY. He is a also a former Dean and President of Bishop College, a historically black institution in Dallas.
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