Martin Luther King Remembered – For His Message and His Struggle
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
HOUSTON COUNTY – It was just four days after Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968 that a motion first came before Congress to make a special holiday in his honor. It would ultimately take another 11 years for the civil rights leader to receive his own day, still celebrated around the country, and right here in Houston County.
In years past, the day was marked by a downtown parade and other festivities but – given the unpredictability of East Texas weather in January – one of the chief organizers Kevin “KJ” Johnson confirmed to The Messenger the parade has been moved to February to mark Black History Month. With Monday morning’s temperatures set to be in the teens, it has turned out to be a wise decision.
Since 1978, before the day was made official, Roberta Mason and other local community leaders began a tradition to celebrate King, in order to keep his memory and his message alive. Sunday will mark this year’s celebration of King in Crockett.
“We want to keep Dr. King’s memory alive in Crockett, Houston County and surrounding towns,” Mason said. “We want to celebrate this American hero. Dr. King was not everyone’s hero, but we want to make him everyone’s hero.”
The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Committee will present the annual Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. commemorative program Sunday, Jan. 19, in the Crockett ISD Administrative Offices Building Auditorium at 3 p.m. The speaker is Mary Ethel Shepherd-Lester of Dallas, the retired Director of Mathematics for Dallas ISD. She is the daughter of the late Rev. T. J. Shepherd, who taught mathematics at Crockett High School for many years.
Mason noted King and his supporters fought for equal rights during a time of segregated schools, water fountains and society itself. She said it is important to realize how far the country has come since then and let young people especially know about the sacrifices made for that progress.
“We have 100% gotten away from a lot of Dr. King’s teachings and a lot of his beliefs,” Mason noted. “Many young people don’t know about Dr. King and they don’t know about all the things he and people like Rosa Parks went through.
Some of the recent speakers with roots in Crockett and/or Houston County were: Dr
James Wilson, nephew of Floyd and Lois Ball; Dr. Nelson Daniels, son of Bill and Mae Bell Daniels; Lieutenant Colonel Don Ards, brother of Cather Woods;
2008 Texas Railroad Commission Candidate Art Hall with relatives in the Ash Community; former News Anchor Christel Phillips of KTRE-TV in Lufkin; Attorney Bryan K. Brown, nephew of the late Wesley Fobbs; Dr. Carolyn Jackson, daughter of Wiley and Ruthie Jackson; and Dr. Ruth Simmons, former president of Prairie View A&M University from the Daly Community in Grapeland.
Other notable speakers over the years were Houston Police Chief Lee Brown, Congresswoman Shelia Jackson-Lee, Judge Morris Overstreet and Houston Post Columnist Robert Newberry.
The program is free of charge and open to the public.
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
