The Charleston High School and M.S. Palmer High School bands are scheduled to participate in Charleston’s 18th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade on Monday, Jan. 19.
Also set to show up and show out is Flawless, a group of young steppers from Charleston.
This year’s King Day parade, whose theme is “We are stronger when working in unity,” is scheduled to get underway at noon.
Lineup will begin at 11 a.m., on Walnut Street behind Charleston City Hall.
The procession will make its way onto South Market St. and then Dr. T.T. Lewis Circle at Tallahatchie General Hospital, eventually turning east onto Main Street, rounding the south side of the Tallahatchie County Courthouse and venturing onto Martin Luther King Drive before reaching its final destination, New Town Missionary Baptist Church on King Drive.
Retired longtime Tallahatchie County schoolteacher Myrtle Jordan has been announced as the grand marshal of this year’s parade.
“Churches, clubs, groups, organizations and anyone else that would like to participate in the parade are welcome,” said Carolyn Johnson, an organizer of the event which is sponsored by a local committee.
Entry in the parade is free, and those who take part are asked to display a sign or banner honoring Dr. King.
For more information about the parade, contact Johnson at 662-647-1346 or Lillie Smith at 662-625-2055.
The Jan. 19 festivities, and similarly styled celebrations across the United States, are a part of the federal holiday begun in 1986 to observe King’s birthday each year on the third Monday of January. He was born Jan. 15, 1929.
King, who championed social reform during the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968. He was 39 years old. The Lorraine is now part of the National Civil Rights Museum.
