Marching to honor a legacy: Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Tuscaloosa

Ken Roberts, Tuscaloosa News
·1 min read
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Hundreds gathered in Tuscaloosa on Monday for Unity Day in honor of the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Unity March, timed to coincide with the slain civil rights leader's birthday, began at Beulah Baptist Church and ended at Tuscaloosa City Hall. Marchers also passed by Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School.

The Unity March was organized by the Tuscaloosa chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The national holiday honoring King's birthday was first celebrated on Jan. 20, 1986.

Jan 15, 2024; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Participants in the Unity March make their way along Greensboro Avenue during the annual commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday in Tuscaloosa.
Jan 15, 2024; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Participants in the Unity March make their way along Greensboro Avenue during the annual commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday in Tuscaloosa.

King, who was born in Jan 15, 1929, in Atlanta, rose to prominence as a civil rights leader after he moved to Alabama.

While serving as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, King led a series of highly publicized civil rights campaigns in between 1955 and 1965 in Alabama, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march.

Jan 15, 2024; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Donna Foster gives remarks during the Unity March, the annual commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday in Tuscaloosa.
Jan 15, 2024; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Donna Foster gives remarks during the Unity March, the annual commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday in Tuscaloosa.

n 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in the struggle for racial equality.

King was killed by an assassin on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Hundreds march in Tuscaloosa to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day