King Holiday Has Local History in Starkville
By Brother Rogers
America will celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. this weekend with a national holiday. Starkville and Oktibbeha County will join the nation in a celebration that includes blacks, whites, and others who believe in one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We take this for granted today, but it was not always so.
The bill designating the third Monday in January as the official holiday was signed into law on November 2, 1983. Nationally, the first observance of the King Holiday was January 20, 1986. Locally, it was considered by many as a “black holiday.” Black churches held memorial services. Black leaders and followers marched through downtown Starkville and met at the courthouse where a black guest speaker delivered remarks to a black audience.
Most white people knew it was a holiday only because the post office was closed, and a few made reference to Robert E. Lee’s birthday being paramount. Some schools and civic clubs still met that Monday, and Mississippi State University had no official event.
A Race Relations Team, created in 1993 as part of a leadership program sponsored by TVA and the local Chamber of Commerce, set a goal to integrate the holiday. Led by Jeanne Marszalek and Ava Moore, this team joined with local NAACP leaders, Dr. Douglas Conner and Dorothy Isaac, to make the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday a community-wide celebration. The first integrated holiday took place in January 1995. The headlines in the Starkville Daily News reported accurately, “Races Unite for MLK Day.”
On the Sunday night before the Monday holiday in 1995, predominately black Second Baptist Church hosted an integrated worship service. On Monday morning of the holiday itself, over 200 people (three times the number anticipated) attended a breakfast at the predominately white St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. Father Mike O’Brien, a local advocate for improved race relations, volunteered his church for this first meeting. Individuals throughout the dining hall gave impromptu testimonies about the racial healing taking place in the community.
Carole McReynolds Davis, a local white artist and member of the Race Relations Team, presented the community with a portrait of Dr. King, which was displayed outside at Odd Fellows Cemetery facing Highway 82 until damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
In January 1996, First United Methodist Church and Griffin United Methodist Church provided the sites for the worship service and breakfast respectively. Davis presented a portrait of Dr. Douglas Conner, a longtime African American activist in civil rights, who died just three years later. Fittingly, the holiday provided a multi-racial venue to honor his important work over many decades to bring all the races in Starkville together.
Integrating the holiday continued in 1997 when Dr. John Marszalek became the first white featured speaker at the Oktibbeha County Courthouse at the completion of the march. In addition, Davis painted a tribute to three leaders in race relations: Jeanne Marszalek and NAACP leaders Dorothy Isaac and Dorothy Bishop.
The year 1998 was pivotal in the life of the holiday locally. Mt. Pelier Baptist Church hosted an overflowing crowd at the annual breakfast. Dr. Malcolm Portera had just accepted the presidency at Mississippi State University. He announced impromptu that morning that MSU would henceforth host the breakfast each year.
For the past ten years, MSU has taken the lead role in organizing the King Holiday breakfast, which attracts over 500 participants from throughout the community. The celebration at MSU has become one of the largest and best in the state of Mississippi. It is probably the most integrated and diverse gathering that takes place in Oktibbeha County.
The breakfast has featured speakers such as Mike Espy – the first African-American from Mississippi elected to Congress since Reconstruction, Lucius Outlaw – a Starkville native and distinguished college professor who is now director of African American Studies at Vanderbilt University, and appropriately, Richard Holmes – a physician who became the first African-American to enroll at Mississippi State University in 1965.
Mississippi used to be outside mainstream America regarding race relations. While there is still unfinished business, our local community can take pride that when it comes to celebrating the holiday that commemorates fairness and justice for all, we are leading the way.
Brother Rogers works at the Stennis Center for Public Service and is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News.
America will celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. this weekend with a national holiday. Starkville and Oktibbeha County will join the nation in a celebration that includes blacks, whites, and others who believe in one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We take this for granted today, but it was not always so.
The bill designating the third Monday in January as the official holiday was signed into law on November 2, 1983. Nationally, the first observance of the King Holiday was January 20, 1986. Locally, it was considered by many as a “black holiday.” Black churches held memorial services. Black leaders and followers marched through downtown Starkville and met at the courthouse where a black guest speaker delivered remarks to a black audience.
Most white people knew it was a holiday only because the post office was closed, and a few made reference to Robert E. Lee’s birthday being paramount. Some schools and civic clubs still met that Monday, and Mississippi State University had no official event.
A Race Relations Team, created in 1993 as part of a leadership program sponsored by TVA and the local Chamber of Commerce, set a goal to integrate the holiday. Led by Jeanne Marszalek and Ava Moore, this team joined with local NAACP leaders, Dr. Douglas Conner and Dorothy Isaac, to make the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday a community-wide celebration. The first integrated holiday took place in January 1995. The headlines in the Starkville Daily News reported accurately, “Races Unite for MLK Day.”
On the Sunday night before the Monday holiday in 1995, predominately black Second Baptist Church hosted an integrated worship service. On Monday morning of the holiday itself, over 200 people (three times the number anticipated) attended a breakfast at the predominately white St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. Father Mike O’Brien, a local advocate for improved race relations, volunteered his church for this first meeting. Individuals throughout the dining hall gave impromptu testimonies about the racial healing taking place in the community.
Carole McReynolds Davis, a local white artist and member of the Race Relations Team, presented the community with a portrait of Dr. King, which was displayed outside at Odd Fellows Cemetery facing Highway 82 until damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
In January 1996, First United Methodist Church and Griffin United Methodist Church provided the sites for the worship service and breakfast respectively. Davis presented a portrait of Dr. Douglas Conner, a longtime African American activist in civil rights, who died just three years later. Fittingly, the holiday provided a multi-racial venue to honor his important work over many decades to bring all the races in Starkville together.
Integrating the holiday continued in 1997 when Dr. John Marszalek became the first white featured speaker at the Oktibbeha County Courthouse at the completion of the march. In addition, Davis painted a tribute to three leaders in race relations: Jeanne Marszalek and NAACP leaders Dorothy Isaac and Dorothy Bishop.
The year 1998 was pivotal in the life of the holiday locally. Mt. Pelier Baptist Church hosted an overflowing crowd at the annual breakfast. Dr. Malcolm Portera had just accepted the presidency at Mississippi State University. He announced impromptu that morning that MSU would henceforth host the breakfast each year.
For the past ten years, MSU has taken the lead role in organizing the King Holiday breakfast, which attracts over 500 participants from throughout the community. The celebration at MSU has become one of the largest and best in the state of Mississippi. It is probably the most integrated and diverse gathering that takes place in Oktibbeha County.
The breakfast has featured speakers such as Mike Espy – the first African-American from Mississippi elected to Congress since Reconstruction, Lucius Outlaw – a Starkville native and distinguished college professor who is now director of African American Studies at Vanderbilt University, and appropriately, Richard Holmes – a physician who became the first African-American to enroll at Mississippi State University in 1965.
Mississippi used to be outside mainstream America regarding race relations. While there is still unfinished business, our local community can take pride that when it comes to celebrating the holiday that commemorates fairness and justice for all, we are leading the way.
Brother Rogers works at the Stennis Center for Public Service and is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News.