MLK Day event to re-enact historic marches from Shiloh Baptist Church to downtown Albany

Jan. 15—ALBANY — For the seventh year, marchers on Monday will retrace the footsteps of civil rights pioneers who risked jail in the quest for equality, making the walk from historic Shiloh Baptist Church to downtown Albany.

The church, located in the Harlem District, along with the Old Mt. Zion Baptist Church, were the sites of mass meetings and were instrumental in the Albany Movement, said Frank Wilson, organizer and former director of the Albany Civil Rights Institute.

A brief program will be held at 11 a.m., followed by the march at noon.

"Shiloh was actually the place Martin Luther King came and spoke first," he said. "That's where most of the mass meetings took place. Shiloh and Mt. Zion were the first two churches to really open their doors to the movement. That's ground zero."

King was arrested twice in Albany, in 1961 and 1962, for his involvement in the local movement, and he took some of the lessons learned — from both success and failures — on to Montgomery, Ala.

Although the weather on King Day is expected to be a bit brisk, Wilson said he is hoping for a good turnout.

Last year marchers gathered outside as King's "I Have a Dream" speech blasted from Mt. Zion, with activities including voter registration taking place.

This year Shiloh will host a program inside prior to the commemorative walk that includes stops at the Charles Sherrod Civil Rights Park and in the past the former Trailways station where civil rights activists staged sit-ins. That location is now the site of a new Albany transportation center that is nearing completion.

"The difference this year, instead of just having the march at noon, we're going to have a program inside with songs and the Freedom Singers," Wilson said. "The Rev. Terry Simmons Jr., pastor for Shiloh, will give the message. We'll take the march from Shiloh to the government square."

The event organizer said he hopes the march will attract a diverse group of participants.

"I would look for a crowd of anywhere from 150 to 300 people," he said. "One of the things I would like to emphasize is this program and this march is open to the public.

"I think many times in people's minds, when you do something for civil rights, it's for black people. That's not what Martin Luther King was about. He was for all people."