Longmont Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration

This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

Longmont residents are invited to join the annual celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this weekend. The Longmont Multicultural Action Committee (LMAC) is again hosting the weekend’s events, with generous sponsorship from Silver Creek High School, where much of the celebration takes place on Monday. St. Vrain Valley Schools and the Lexmark Corporation will be providing refreshments and informational materials.

LMAC was founded in 1995 by Glenda Strong Robinson, who lives in Longmont. She became a minister in 2017 at The Second Baptist Church in Boulder, the only black church between Denver and Cheyenne and it is celebrating 111 years of ministry this year.

Glenda is the driving force behind both the Dr. Martin Luther King celebrations and Boulder County events for Black History Month in February. Among many others, she is supported by her sister, Madelyn Strong Woodley, who concentrates on and participates in the musical offerings of the celebration.

The sisters were both born on the Strong family farm in Shelby County, Tennessee, an area that has now been subsumed into the Memphis suburbs. They are proud of their family and ancestors, and willingly share the stories of their Strong and Stewart antecedents who were born into slavery. In addition to her religion, Glenda’s purpose in life is based on making sure that people do not neglect the importance of history and bringing history to life, particularly for children.

Highlights of the weekend’s celebrations are Glenda’s “narrations” in which she shares her place in history as well as the importance and significance of community activism in the struggle for equal rights. As a junior at Memphis State University, Glenda participated in one of the I Am A Man marches in Memphis as part of the sometimes violently opposed sanitation workers strikes. This was the last march led by Dr. King before his assassination on April 4, 1968. She then marched in Memphis on April 8 as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial March. She said that holding the hand of a rabbi on one side of her and a priest on the other was a defining moment in her life and helped her commitment to a life of activism.

Another important participant in the weekend’s celebratory activities is Dr. Michael A. Williams. In addition to his pastoral responsibilities with the Ministry Christian Fellowship in Denver, he is the Musical Director of the Colorado Heritage Community Mass Choir which will be performing throughout the weekend. The choir is currently more than fifty strong and their aim is to have 100 members and to become a statewide choir. Members are from many different churches and civic organizations and are a diverse group in race, religion and age.

Saturday’s activities start in Boulder at the Second Baptist Church with a full program, beginning at 8:30 a.m., of music, films, history and a shared meal to follow. The morning will include civil rights era songs created by the Freedom Soldiers and stories and narrations from Glenda. Sunday evening’s events continue with celebrations at the First United Methodist Church in Lafayette at 6:00 p.m. and include a reading of Dr. King’s I Have A Dream speech.

Longmont’s events begin at 9:30 a.m. at Silver Creek High School on Nelson Road and are presented as All Cultures One Voice. Included will be a performance of traditional Mexican dance from the Bailes de mi Tierra dance troupe based at the Longmont Senior Centre. In addition to music, videos and children’s activities, there will be a presentation by Dr. Almella Starks-Umoja, the keynote speaker. Dr. Starks-Umoja is the daughter of the late Dr. Henry Logan Starks, who was a key figure of Dr. King’s planning committee and was also an active champion of the pivotal Memphis sanitation workers strike in 1968.

When the Longmont celebrations at Silver Creek finish around noon, Glenda, her sister Madelyn, and other attendees will make their way to Lafayette, where the annual March for Peace gets underway at 12:30 p.m. The march starts at Angevine Middle School and ends at Lafayette’s City Park. As always, prayers are being shared for good weather.

The weather forecast for the weekend in Longmont is good. It is not likely that the snow of 2018 will reoccur and deter people from attending what will be a fun, worthwhile and meaningful event. Glenda and Madelyn hope that it will help bring history to life for everyone, no matter their age or color or race.