King would have been 82 years old on Jan. 15, were his life not cut short by a bullet at the age of 39 in Memphis, Tenn. Celebrations of King’s life and lasting influence will spring up throughout the city and the whole world on Monday.
Marble Community Gospel Choir got an early start on the commemoration Sunday. Together with renowned actor and singer Ben Vereen, the choir celebrated King’s life with song at Marble Collegiate Church on 29th Street and Broadway.
“I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought!” Vereen’s booming voice resonated through the church. When he is not thinking positively, “then I forget about [King’s] march, I forget about the love,” he said. “That’s what Martin was about—service—serving each other,” he reminded the crowd.
King was not only a trailblazer for African American rights and unity among all people, but also a reverend and a lover of gospel music. Gospel music great Mahalia Jackson was his favorite. She passed away in 1972, but her memory lived alongside his on Sunday.
“Music is the great leveler,” explained theater director and playwright Charles Randolph-Wright. He sees King’s appreciation of this musical genre as inseparable from the message he spread. Gospel inspires togetherness and hope, Wright noted. “It makes everyone sing [and] join together,” he said.
King was arrested about 30 times as he travelled the nation and spoke up wherever he saw injustice. As Vereen embarked on singing “Is my Living in Vain?”—a song of hope—he pictured King sitting in a prison cell feeling a little dejected.
Vereen began, “If I can help somebody as I travel along; if I can help somebody with a song; if I can help somebody who might go wrong, then my life shall not be in vain!”
King was born the son of a pastor in Atlanta. After graduating from a segregated public school at the age of 15, he continued his education for over a decade. He studied theology, received many honors as a distinguished student and graduated with a doctorate in 1955.
King led a bus boycott that got the wheels rolling toward a U.S. Supreme Court declaration on Dec. 21, 1956, that ended the racial segregation on buses once and for all. King’s home was bombed during the 382-day boycott and he experienced many hardships. However, he emerged strong and determined to maintain a non-violent course of motivating change.
“In the 11-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over 2,500 times,” states the Nobel Prize website. King was the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him in 1964, a year after he led the march of 250,000 people in Washington and gave his famed “I Have a Dream” address. He was also named Time Magazine’s man of the year in 1963.
King’s list of accomplishments is extensive. He left his mark on New York as he did on the whole world. In 1967, the year before his assassination, King led the largest anti-war protest in the city to date. He was followed by 1,100 people from Central Park to the U.N. to voice protest of the Vietnam War.
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Orlando Shere, a parishioner of Marble Collegiate Church, came to the church on Sunday afternoon to listen to the choir and the gospel tunes.
“We haven’t really taken advantage of the opportunities,” said Shere, reflecting on King’s dream. As an African American, he feels the civil rights King worked for have been won, but much inequality remains.
Shere’s wife, Thomasita, said that Obama’s presidency is a sign of progress, but “when we take three steps forward, we take four steps back.”
“I really don’t think we’ve come far enough,” she added. She sees Martin Luther King Day as a great opportunity to remember—it’s a reminder of what he fought for and what we must still strive toward.
“There are a lot of people who put their lives on the line,” reflected Orlando Shere, cherishing the hard-won progress made since the days of Dr. Martin Luther King.
New York City Celebrates Martin Luther King Day:
MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY OF SERVICE: Community centers, churches, and other organizations across the five boroughs are creating opportunities for New Yorkers to live according to King’s message of serving others. Martin Luther King Day was declared a national day of service in 1994. The slogan is: “A day on, not a day off.”
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY PARADE IN LONG BEACH, LONG ISLAND: Join the parade at Laurelton Boulevard and Park Avenue to march to the Martin Luther King Center at 615 Riverside.
WHEN: Monday, Jan. 17, 10:30 a.m.
BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC TRIBUTE TO DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING: Keynote speaker, Walter Mosley, has written fiction about the African American experience in America. The Persuasions and the Reverence Timothy Write Memorial Choir will provide the music. “Picture the Dream” art exhibition will be on display, and there will also be a screening of “Neshoba: The Prince of Freedom,” a documentary about a town in Mississippi where civil rights workers were killed.
WHEN: Monday, Jan. 17, 10:30 a.m. Admission is free.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. FESTIVAL AT THE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF MANHATTAN: Children can learn about the life and work of King through discussions and craft projects. The world-famous Harlem Gospel Choir will also perform.
WHEN: Jan. 15-17 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Museum admission is $10, free for museum members and children under one.
A COMMUNAL CELEBRATION IN HONOR OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: Volunteers of all ages can team up to work on a variety of projects, give blood, or donate warm coats for kids at the Jewish Community Center at 334 Amsterdam Ave.
WHEN: Monday, Jan. 17. Admission is free. Call 646-505-5708 for more information.
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY’S ANNUAL MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. CELEBRATION WEEK: The second week of February will commemorate a speech King gave at NYU on Feb. 10, 1961. The week’s events will include lectures, exhibits, film screenings, community service initiatives, and more. The events will take place on the NYU campus.
WHEN: Feb. 7–12. Most events will be free and open to the public.
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