Tulsa MLK Commemoration Service Pays Homage To Civil Rights Leader's Legacy

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which celebrates the birthday of the Civil Rights movement icon.

It was officially signed into law as a national holiday in the 1980s and only officially recognized by all 50 states in 2000.

Schools, organizations and many businesses will be closed to pay respect to King's legacy.

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The Boston Avenue United Methodist Church in Tulsa held a special service to commemorate his legacy on Sunday, and people of all backgrounds, ages and races marched to the church.

They agreed the most important thing about the holiday is teaching the younger generation about what Dr. King left behind for them.

Carmen Pettie remembers an America divided.

She marches every year so that she doesn't forget.

"I remember not being able to go to school with the little kids that played across the street from me,” Pettie said. “So it reminds me how far I've come."

But what about the children of today, who never experienced segregation?

Pettie says she marches for them, too, to be an example for them.

"It doesn't matter to me what color a person's skin is, what religion they worship, what education they might have or even what side of town or what economic community they live in,” she said. “We come from the same breath."

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The group marched to the Boston Avenue Methodist Church, where hundreds of people reflected on the changes brought on by King.

Booker T. Washington student Sydnee Dickson delivered King's famous words about his hopes for the younger generation.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation that will not judge them for the color of their skin."

One of her teachers, Melissa Jones-Chunu, says that is what the civil rights leader would have wanted to see.

"It's so important for young people of today to know about their past, because it will help to lead them into the future, a peaceful future, which is what we're hoping for and I know that's what Martin Luther King had a dream for,” Jones Chunu said.

Downtown Tulsa's MLK parade begins Monday at 11 a.m.

It will follow John Hope Franklin Boulevard and end right outside ONEOK Field near Reconciliation Park.

Tulsa's MLK Jr. Commemoration Society