Event will feature keynote presentation by daughters
of slain civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo
The city of Southfield and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Task Force will host the 24th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Peace Walk Celebration on Monday, January 19 beginning at 9:30 a.m. at Hope United Methodist Church, 26275 Northwestern Highway.
The peace walk will depart from Hope United at 10:15 a.m., followed by an 11 a.m. program at the Southfield Pavilion, located in the Southfield Municipal Complex, 26000 Evergreen Road. The program will feature remarks from Southfield Council President Donald Fracassi and MLK Task Force President Barbara Seldon as well as a keynote presentation by Sally Liuzzo Prado and Penny Liuzzo Herrington, the daughters of slain civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo. The program will also feature musical presentations from the Deep River Choir and the Southfield and Southfield-Lathurp High Schools combined choirs; presentation of the
2009 MLK Community Service Award winner; and the ringing of the Liberty Bell by the Michigan Black Horsemen. Forty-Sixth District Court Judge Shelia Johnson will serve as the emcee for the program and the ‘Celebration of Diversity Taste Fest’ will immediately follow. The 2nd annual free taste fest is sponsored by Eaton Corporation of Southfield.
As part of the 2009 MLK holiday celebration, the Southfield Public Library and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Task Force are also sponsoring the “Viola Liuzzo: An Exemplary Woman in Extraordinary Times” exhibit January 15 – February 6 at the Southfield Public Library, 26300 Evergreen Road. Viola Liuzzo was a white Detroit resident, housewife and mother of five who drove to Selma, Alabama in 1965 to protest for black voter rights and to help with voter registration. Liuzzo was murdered by Ku Klux Klan members as she was driving several local marchers home in her car after a civil rights march.
Southfield was the first city in the state of Michigan to hold a Dr. King peace walk or march. The first Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Walk took place on January 20, 1986, commemorating the first national observance of Dr. King’s birthday. The walk continues to grow in size and scope each year, with year-long educational and community outreach activities.
For more information, call Barbara Seldon, president of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Task Force, at (248) 358-0432, or visit www.mlktaskforcemi.org.