CHAPEL HILL – Local leaders and community activists will use the remembrance of one of the nation’s most well known civil rights activists to continue their fight against what they’re calling an oppressive agenda in Raleigh.

Monday marks the 28th Martin Luther King, Jr day, which observes the birthday of the pastor, activist, and humanitarian. Dr. King would have been 85 years old on January 15.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed the bill creating the federal holiday to honor King. The holiday wasn’t observed for the first time until 1986.

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro branch of the NAACP is holding its annual march and rally with the theme ‘A Day of Redemption’ beginning at Peace and JusticePlaza in front of the Old Franklin Street Post Office. Branch secretary, Barbara Foushee says Monday’s event will feature special guests who are active in the social justice movement.

“North Carolina State Senator Valerie Foushee, Former North Carolina State Senator Ellie Kinnaird, and a representative from the UNC-Chapel Hill chapter of the NAACP, Mr. Andrew Rowe, Jr. (will be the rally speakers),” Foushee says.

Foushee says the event continues down Franklin Street on the way to the historic First Baptist Church on the corner of Rosemary and North Roberson Street.

“After the rally, there will be a march,” Foushee says. “The program will convene at 11:00 a.m. at the Historic First Baptist Church of Chapel Hill where the pastor is Reverend Dr. Rodney Coleman. The featured speaker will be Orange County Commissioner and civil rights attorney, Mark Dorosin.”

Every year, activists in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community also join in the annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) rally in Raleigh. One of the MLK rally marshals and local activist, Minister Robert Campbell, says Monday will be an opportunity for people to sign up to ride the bus to Raleigh for the HKonJ held this year on February 8.

“Last year we had one bus,” Minister Campbell says. “This year we want to have three buses leaving Chapel Hill. We encourage the general public to become a part of the movement, become the voice that says, ‘we are looking for social, economic justice for everybody.”

The Forward Together movement recently announced that HKonJ will be combined with a Moral Monday rally this year in the attempts to strengthen the movement that was started last April.

Minister Campbell says this movement continues to be an effort to protect everyone, especially those who can’t protect themselves.

“We have to make the weakest upon us as strong as the strongest upon us, because we are all a link in the chain of society,” Minister Campbell says.

Aside from the events on Franklin Street, your community will see many events in observance of MLK Day.

Book Harvest is a local nonprofit which collects new and gently used books to get them into the hands of children in homes where books aren’t readily available. Monday, Book Harvest is celebrating its 10,000 Books for Kids (10KBK) event at The Carolina Theatre of Durham on Morgan Street. Durham Mayor Bill Bell will kick off the festivities at 1:00 p.m. There will also be food, live music, and other special appearances.

Book Harvest 10KBK Event

DurhamTechCommunity College along with the help of more than 800 volunteers are gathering at the school’s main campus to package meals for the Stop Hunger Now event. The meals will be distributed through the ORPHANetwork in Nicaragua.

Stop Hunger Now Event

UNC will take the entire week to remember the social justice leader. Events continue Tuesday with an exhibit called “Re/Iterations of Resistance: Moments, Martyrs, Movement.” It will take place at the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History at 7:00 p.m.

Events at UNC continue Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

UNC Events

Related Stories
‹
Closures and Local Celebrations on Martin Luther King Jr. Day
The local governments in Orange County have many events planned for the weekend and holiday of Martin Luther King Jr. Day to recognize the civil rights activist. Here are some of the announcements: Town of Carrboro Closings and Delays: Town administrative offices will be closed on Monday, January 20. Yard waste and leaf collection will […]
Deadline Nears for Carrboro's Martin Luther King Jr Mural Contest
The town of Carrboro is looking for community input ahead of the creation of two murals in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park. It is seeking high school students’ submissions for mural designs and community ideas for quotes from Dr. King to be featured in the park. The deadline for both is Friday November 1. For […]
Civil Rights Leader can Reenter North Carolina Legislature
A North Carolina civil rights leader can now go inside the Legislative Building, two years after he was banned. WRAL-TV in Raleigh reports that The Rev. William Barber, who organized “Moral Monday” protests and led the state NAACP, had been ordered by a magistrate in 2017 to stay out of the Legislature, after he was charged […]
State NAACP Protests General Assembly Ahead of Redistricting Meetings
The North Carolina NAACP held a demonstration at the state capitol on Monday calling on the General Assembly to hold from passing any new bills until after the 2018 election. The current legislature was elected based on maps that the United States Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional. The demonstration corresponded with the 52nd Anniversary of the […]
Rev. William Barber Makes Appearance on 'The Daily Show'
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II is the outgoing president of the North Carolina NAACP and is the convener of the Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) Peoples Assembly Coalition. He’s also mobilized the Forward Together Moral Monday movement – in which people of all ages, genders, socioeconomic statuses and races protest the General Assembly. Barber appeared on […]
Chapel Hill, Carrboro Celebrate MLK Day
Chapel Hill and UNC have been celebrating Martin Luther King Junior day since before the bill was passed to make it a federal holiday in 1983. Every year, the town encourages people to come together, converse, march and even sing. Continuing the tradition with past years, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro and UNC chapters of the NAACP held […]
Thousands Attend Moral March on Raleigh
Despite freezing temperatures thousands came to downtown Raleigh Saturday morning to protest for voting rights and other causes. The tenth annual Moral March on Raleigh and HK on J People’s Assembly was organized by the NAACP. Handwritten signs called for healthcare for all and an end to private prisons, among dozens of others. Tyler Swanson, […]
Duke Caved
A growing group of Muslims has been meeting for prayer in the Duke Chapel basement, but when the university agreed to let them issue their weekly calls to prayer from the chapel’s belfry, voices of anti-Islam bigotry rose up to say no. 224 miles away, Franklin Graham, son of the peace-loving evangelist Billy Graham, went ballistic. It’s a Christian chapel, he insisted. Muslims shouldn’t be using it. It’s fair to say that Graham has a history of hating Islam. He calls it a false religion, guided by treacherous deceit. Quoting now, he has said, “The blinding lies of Satan himself are the dark and sinister force ultimately behind any false religion. It is impossible for a false religion to be a true religion of peace.”
CH Honors MLK With Annual Rally, Looks Ahead For Moral Monday
It is forever,” Campbell said.
Rally, March To Mark Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 85th Birthday
Local leaders and community activists will use the remembrance of one of the nation’s most well known civil rights activists to continue their fight against what they’re calling an oppressive agenda in Raleigh.
›