Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a federal holiday.

While most of the news media today is concentrating on disagreements among the King family on how to carry on the legacy of the King Center in Atlanta, I'd like to share some personal thoughts on the holiday.

A few years ago, when I was still a small town newspaper reporter, I got a chance to attend a performance being done by Danny Glover and his friend, Felix Justice. They called it "An Evening with Martin and Langston." Danny Glover read poems by Langston Hughes, and Felix Justice delivered a speech by Martin Luther King.

Dad attended the event with me, and we both enjoyed it very much. Both performers did an excellent job. Having studied Langston's poetry, I appreciated Danny Glover's delivery. He really seemed to understand Langston's poetry, and to instill it with the music that underlay his words. And Felix Justice, I felt, did justice to MLK's words. Dad agreed, as someone who had not only lived through that period of social change but who had actually participated in one of Reverend King's marches.

At the time, Dad was in graduate school in Little Rock, Arkansas, when at the last minute, he heard about a march that was taking place. He joined in, along with people of various backgrounds, and at the end of the march, he got a chance to hear the legendary civil rights leader speak.

While he'd never described the march in detail, I had always imagined it in my head: my young father, with his light brown curls and horn-rimmed glasses, marching alongside a rainbow of people, sun shining bright on all those faces, as they were strengthened by common purpose and inspired by the words of a powerful orator, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. My imaginary version, in living color, came from newsreels I'd seen of the many marches led by the civil rights leader.

If hearing an actor deliver King's speech was moving, I can only imagine what it might have been to hear him live. I had always envied Dad this brush with history, but watching "An Evening with Martin and Langston" together, I felt as if I'd finally had a chance to share that with him. We left invigorated, inspired, wanting to make the world a better place.

Regardless of how his family chooses to carry on his legacy, I hope they'll make certain to keep alive that spirit which, for the past 40 years, has inspired so many people to work for a better world.

Copyright 2005 by Alyce Wilson

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