Image courtesy U.S. National Archives/portrait by Betsy G. Reyneau [Click to enlarge]

The Mar-Saline Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), in conjunction with the Martin Luther King Jr. Planning Committee and Butterfield Youth Services, will host a two-day celebration event that will begin Saturday, Jan. 15, with a soul food dinner, multi-cultural fair, musical celebration, community awards and candlelight vigil at Marshall High School.

On Monday, Jan. 17, there will be a prayer breakfast and program beginning at 7 a.m. at North Street United Methodist Church, 365 W. North St. This event is free to all and will feature a breakfast and two dynamic speakers.

The Martin Luther King event coordinator for the Mar-Saline Branch of the NAACP, Aisha Williams, said both happenings are geared toward bringing out a multi-cultural presence.

"I wanted this to be a multi-cultural event and I wanted everyone to just enjoy themselves," Williams said. "The music should appeal to all ages and cultures. I just want people to celebrate Dr. King's dream of diversity and bringing people together of different nationalities and likes and differences.

"That's why we're calling it a celebration, not just a soul food dinner and musical, because we should celebrate not only his life, but all the things that he marched for and that's why our theme is "Celebrating The Freedom He Marched Toward: Keeping The Dream Alive In 2005," said Williams.

Saturday's musical celebration will feature some popular local performers, not to mention the appealing array of food organizers have planned.

"It will be a multi-cultural affair with different vendors selling jewelry and having displays of African-American history," Williams said. "The soul food dinner is $10 for adults and $5 for children and it's going to have fried chicken, ham, brisket, macaroni and cheese ... just a bunch of good food."

Of the entertainment and musical portion of the event, Williams said, "We're having the True Heart Consolers from St. Louis come in and they're a pretty big group and they're our featured performers for the evening. We're also having Project Praise, which is a local group here in town that people are aware of. We're also having a mime group, Creative Praize, from Knob Noster and we're also having a praise dancing group come in. There will be a short video of Martin Luther King's life, ending with a candlelight vigil and singing of 'Lift Every Voice and Sing.'"

Williams, a graduate of Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield has been coordinating events for years now and said she wanted this year's celebration to be bigger and better than any the organization has held so far.

"It's going to be a big event and I'm real excited about it," Williams said. "Usually, it's just a prayer breakfast, but two years ago we had a musical celebration. But this year I wanted it to be something really big to bring more people out in the community because Martin Luther King wasn't just for black people. He was for everybody, so we want to have a diverse group of people come out."

Williams, whose father, Clyde Williams, is the president of the NAACP branch here in Marshall, and mother Mary is the co-coordinator of this event, says awards will also be given out to some community activists who have worked tirelessly in their respective positions.

"We'll also be giving out community awards to people in the community ... Martin Luther King awards .. like an overcomer award, a spiritual award, a leadership award ... to eight people here in town, both young and old," she said.

Williams also said that getting to work so closely with her parents is very gratifying.

"I've been trained very well by my parents and I get a lot of support from them," she said, flashing a smile. "They're very active in the community and have received community awards from a lot of different organizations. It's really rewarding to be trained by them and now be at the age where I can work with them."

Williams also said King is one of her heroes and she bases a lot of what she does on how he lived his life.

"He's obviously a hero to me ... somebody I look up to. I base my leadership off of his leadership ... to include everybody ... to take a lead position, but pick people to follow you that support you and are for what you are doing," she said. "I had an opportunity to go to Atlanta to visit the King Center and the historical site and it was very powerful. You could just feel that the spirit was there and that he has left a strong legacy throughout the whole world and he is remembered every day."

She urged people to come out to both events and celebrate King's legacy.

"If you like a celebration and you believe in freedom, then please come to the event," she said. "It's for everybody."

Contact Eric Coley at

marshallfaith@socket.net