As celebrations continue in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., family members of the civil rights activist say this is year is particularly significant. Dr. Alveda King is Reverend King's niece, and the founder Of King for Life. She told WYSO that this month is the 150th anniversary of the emancipation of slaves and August is the 50th anniversary of her uncle's famous "I have a dream" speech, but she says there's more work to do.
King says "The vision my uncle had is still unfolding. This is fifty years after in August of this year, and we're still on the road, or on the way. So I don't believe we've actually realized that dream, even with the election of the President and things like that, but that was all part of it."
Several marches took place this morning in honor of the slain civil rights leader; in Yellow Springs, and a large crowd gathered in Downtown Dayton. Chase Jones is a student and graduate assistant in the office of multi-cultural affairs on the University of Dayton Campus says events at UD will continue over the next several days.
Jones adds, "Tuesday we will have an open forum discussion, a dialog discussion here on campus in our Science Center, allowing individuals to come in and talk about what they saw in the week prior. And what experiences they've had with the theme from the march to the movement. We've discussed a lot with service and social justice groups, and service and social action clubs here on campus, about how we can move to just a one day march and celebration of Dr. King into more of a movement on our campuses and in our community to solidify who we are as a people, and that we are all in this together as brothers and sisters.
MLKDayton is a web-site that has been set up to list many of this weeks events surrounding the King holiday.