West Chester and Liberty Townships'
Martin Luther King Day Observance: A Brief History of How it Came to Exist |
Gail Webster, Event Founder
In the mid 1990's, my three children were home from school on a cold January day. No one was sick and it wasn’t a snow day. I decided to take them to the library to find out why it was that they had the good fortune of a day off school. After driving all the way across town to get there, we learned the meaning of “National Holiday” – the library was also closed. The following year, planning ahead, I had visited the library the previous week, borrowing several documentary videos about Martin Luther King, Jr. This time, when the day came, I was prepared and made my children sit down and watch with me about the man whose birthday we were commemorating by a day off school. I remembered when MLK was assassinated and shared with them some of my memories of that time in history. As we watched, I was truly inspired by this man’s speeches and the history shared about what was going on in the United States in the 1950’s and ‘60’s. I had not realized back then what a strong Christian he was and how his faith was instrumental in everything he did. My eyes were also opened to some of the horrors that our brothers and sisters of African-American heritage experienced, even as they peacefully asked for equal rights. Some of this information I had been aware of, as much as any Caucasian, middle-class, young, white girl in the North who lived a somewhat sheltered existence, could be expected to pick up from snippets of an occasional newscast, but some of it I had not remembered hearing about at all.
By the end of our video viewing, a seed had been planted in my heart to not let this courageous man’s life be ignored or casually passed over by my children’s generation. Here was a real hero, someone who lived and died because he stood firm in his faith that God’s way was right and just and intended for everyone. He lived his convictions confidently because he knew he was correctly pursuing God’s will for our country. This was someone I would like my children to learn to emulate.
The following spring, at the National Day of Prayer ceremony in West Chester, I mustered enough courage to ask my pastor if we could do something at our church, like maybe show those videos, as some kind of commemoration to this fine Christian role model. The following January he showed a brief clip about MLK during the Sunday worship service, which was a start, but not quite everything that I envisioned our town needed. I also asked my friend, Gayle Dobbins, what she did with her family for MLK day and whether or not she knew of any programs in our area. I was interested in finding something to take my kids to. From what I could gather from her and the papers, there was something in downtown Cincinnati, but not a lot else and nothing locally.
Each year, around the MLK Holiday, I would get this very uneasy feeling that something was amiss, or lacking, in our town. Why didn’t somebody do something? My children had been in school long enough now for me to realize that this was not a lesson required by any curriculum until they studied it in high school history class. Up until that time, whether or not MLK received much coverage was up to each individual teacher.
Finally, in 1998, I was in a Sunday School class at Cornerstone United Methodist Church, entitled "Experiencing God", taught by Beth Thomas. Interestingly, in that class, that is exactly what happened – I experienced God. During the two months or so of the class, I suddenly became aware, through every single sermon, Bible study, Sunday School lesson, or any other Christian input, that I was being called to do this thing that had been on my heart for so long. The Lord himself was asking me directly to put together a MLK day observance in West Chester. I had no idea how to go about doing this. Finally, one evening, I found myself in a church hallway with Dave Gully, the Township Administrator. Eventually, the small talk ran out, as we were both waiting for the youth group to return. Cautiously, I asked him, if, perchance, a member of the community was interested in putting together a program for MLK day in West Chester, how would one go about doing such a thing? His immediate response was, “Write me up a proposal and I will take care of it.” Never having written a proposal myself, I again was grasping for straws, but eventually came up with a letter outlining my plans to him. By this time, I had begun speaking to Dr. Ray Terrell and Rev. John Stevenson, both of whom actually knew something about this type of program, having worked on similar events in other locations previously. They were each a Godsend in this endeavor and a real asset to our planning. Within a week of receiving my letter, Dave Gully notified me that Cinergy was providing $500 to sponsor the event. All they asked in return was that we acknowledge them as the sponsor on our program. One of my biggest concerns – how I would fund this project - was immediately alleviated.
From there, everything about the program just fell into place. Absolutely everything that I had worried about miraculously became a non-issue, down to the smallest details. I was amazed at the wonderful way God orchestrated the entire event.
1999 - We wanted as many people as possible to be involved, so as to have a sense of ownership in the program. For that reason, we decided to sponsor a contest in the schools. This first year was the “Name the Event” contest. It was open to all Lakota students in grades 1-12. This is how the winners were announced in the paper:
Kristin Coyle’s Live the Dream caught the essence of what is to be communicated and acted upon at the Martin Luther King, Jr. observance. Likewise, Ryan Hartlage’s Our Declaration of Unity seemed to speak to what we in West Chester are trying to accomplish through this event. Therefore, both titles have been combined to name the event Live the Dream: Our Declaration of Unity. Both Kristin and Ryan are students at Lakota Ridge Junior High School.
2000 - Our contest was to “Design the Logo”. Rob Crowder, a student at Hopewell Junior High School, won the overall Grand Prize. His logo is the one that continues to be used in all publicity for West Chester’s Live the Dream: Our Declaration of Unity celebration commemorating Martin Luther King Day.
After the evening celebration, we chose a time of refreshments and fellowship, to allow all participants a time to meet, mix, and mingle. This was also how we encouraged local businesses to become involved, as they were asked to donate the floral arrangements for the tables, coffee, punch, and cookies. West Chester Parks and Recreation Department became involved our second year, as the township offered to provide the sponsorship money and whatever help we needed. In addition to providing personnel and meeting space, the West Chester Township has allowed us to use their copy machine, paper, envelopes, and postage meter in order to mail information about the event to local churches, businesses, and organizations.
2003 - The March for Unity in Our Community was added in 2003, when Rev. Bob Graetz was our keynote speaker. Rev. Graetz knew Rev. King personally, and worked directly with him during the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
2004 - Liberty Township began participating in the evening program and then also began helping to plan and carry out both events.
Over the years, we have experimented with having the evening program at Cornerstone United Methodist Church and then at Lakota West High School. As we progress, new concerns have arisen each year: new challenges to what we do, how we do it, and why we do it the way we do. Because there was so much power evidenced in the first couple years, we wanted to try to get back to our original goals and style, as we were noticing a drift in the way we were heading. Each year, however, proves to be a powerful influence in the life of particular individuals who attend the evening program.
2005 - A wonderful lunch, donated by local restaurants, was added to follow the March for Unity with excellent jazz piano and bass by Roland Ashby and his friend. Food for 100 was donated; approximately 50 showed up for the march itself, but about 75 ended up eating, as some just joined in for the program. The evening program drew about 200 community members. We received a lot of positive feedback about our choice to move it back to the church. The atmosphere there was just more homey and conducive to interacting with one’s neighbors, giving the feel to attendees of being a part of the celebration rather than just spectators at it.
2016 - The previous year, we had reached the maximum capacity at West Chester Presbyterian Church’s fellowship hall where the lunch following the March for Unity was always held, so we changed venues. The March began at the Clocktower at The Square in West Chester and ended up in the Lakota West High School cafeteria.
2017 - This was the first year to hold what was formerly the evening program immediately following the lunch after the March for Unity.
Since its inception there have been several goals we have tried to maintain in regards to the program.
By the end of our video viewing, a seed had been planted in my heart to not let this courageous man’s life be ignored or casually passed over by my children’s generation. Here was a real hero, someone who lived and died because he stood firm in his faith that God’s way was right and just and intended for everyone. He lived his convictions confidently because he knew he was correctly pursuing God’s will for our country. This was someone I would like my children to learn to emulate.
The following spring, at the National Day of Prayer ceremony in West Chester, I mustered enough courage to ask my pastor if we could do something at our church, like maybe show those videos, as some kind of commemoration to this fine Christian role model. The following January he showed a brief clip about MLK during the Sunday worship service, which was a start, but not quite everything that I envisioned our town needed. I also asked my friend, Gayle Dobbins, what she did with her family for MLK day and whether or not she knew of any programs in our area. I was interested in finding something to take my kids to. From what I could gather from her and the papers, there was something in downtown Cincinnati, but not a lot else and nothing locally.
Each year, around the MLK Holiday, I would get this very uneasy feeling that something was amiss, or lacking, in our town. Why didn’t somebody do something? My children had been in school long enough now for me to realize that this was not a lesson required by any curriculum until they studied it in high school history class. Up until that time, whether or not MLK received much coverage was up to each individual teacher.
Finally, in 1998, I was in a Sunday School class at Cornerstone United Methodist Church, entitled "Experiencing God", taught by Beth Thomas. Interestingly, in that class, that is exactly what happened – I experienced God. During the two months or so of the class, I suddenly became aware, through every single sermon, Bible study, Sunday School lesson, or any other Christian input, that I was being called to do this thing that had been on my heart for so long. The Lord himself was asking me directly to put together a MLK day observance in West Chester. I had no idea how to go about doing this. Finally, one evening, I found myself in a church hallway with Dave Gully, the Township Administrator. Eventually, the small talk ran out, as we were both waiting for the youth group to return. Cautiously, I asked him, if, perchance, a member of the community was interested in putting together a program for MLK day in West Chester, how would one go about doing such a thing? His immediate response was, “Write me up a proposal and I will take care of it.” Never having written a proposal myself, I again was grasping for straws, but eventually came up with a letter outlining my plans to him. By this time, I had begun speaking to Dr. Ray Terrell and Rev. John Stevenson, both of whom actually knew something about this type of program, having worked on similar events in other locations previously. They were each a Godsend in this endeavor and a real asset to our planning. Within a week of receiving my letter, Dave Gully notified me that Cinergy was providing $500 to sponsor the event. All they asked in return was that we acknowledge them as the sponsor on our program. One of my biggest concerns – how I would fund this project - was immediately alleviated.
From there, everything about the program just fell into place. Absolutely everything that I had worried about miraculously became a non-issue, down to the smallest details. I was amazed at the wonderful way God orchestrated the entire event.
1999 - We wanted as many people as possible to be involved, so as to have a sense of ownership in the program. For that reason, we decided to sponsor a contest in the schools. This first year was the “Name the Event” contest. It was open to all Lakota students in grades 1-12. This is how the winners were announced in the paper:
Kristin Coyle’s Live the Dream caught the essence of what is to be communicated and acted upon at the Martin Luther King, Jr. observance. Likewise, Ryan Hartlage’s Our Declaration of Unity seemed to speak to what we in West Chester are trying to accomplish through this event. Therefore, both titles have been combined to name the event Live the Dream: Our Declaration of Unity. Both Kristin and Ryan are students at Lakota Ridge Junior High School.
2000 - Our contest was to “Design the Logo”. Rob Crowder, a student at Hopewell Junior High School, won the overall Grand Prize. His logo is the one that continues to be used in all publicity for West Chester’s Live the Dream: Our Declaration of Unity celebration commemorating Martin Luther King Day.
After the evening celebration, we chose a time of refreshments and fellowship, to allow all participants a time to meet, mix, and mingle. This was also how we encouraged local businesses to become involved, as they were asked to donate the floral arrangements for the tables, coffee, punch, and cookies. West Chester Parks and Recreation Department became involved our second year, as the township offered to provide the sponsorship money and whatever help we needed. In addition to providing personnel and meeting space, the West Chester Township has allowed us to use their copy machine, paper, envelopes, and postage meter in order to mail information about the event to local churches, businesses, and organizations.
2003 - The March for Unity in Our Community was added in 2003, when Rev. Bob Graetz was our keynote speaker. Rev. Graetz knew Rev. King personally, and worked directly with him during the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
2004 - Liberty Township began participating in the evening program and then also began helping to plan and carry out both events.
Over the years, we have experimented with having the evening program at Cornerstone United Methodist Church and then at Lakota West High School. As we progress, new concerns have arisen each year: new challenges to what we do, how we do it, and why we do it the way we do. Because there was so much power evidenced in the first couple years, we wanted to try to get back to our original goals and style, as we were noticing a drift in the way we were heading. Each year, however, proves to be a powerful influence in the life of particular individuals who attend the evening program.
2005 - A wonderful lunch, donated by local restaurants, was added to follow the March for Unity with excellent jazz piano and bass by Roland Ashby and his friend. Food for 100 was donated; approximately 50 showed up for the march itself, but about 75 ended up eating, as some just joined in for the program. The evening program drew about 200 community members. We received a lot of positive feedback about our choice to move it back to the church. The atmosphere there was just more homey and conducive to interacting with one’s neighbors, giving the feel to attendees of being a part of the celebration rather than just spectators at it.
2016 - The previous year, we had reached the maximum capacity at West Chester Presbyterian Church’s fellowship hall where the lunch following the March for Unity was always held, so we changed venues. The March began at the Clocktower at The Square in West Chester and ended up in the Lakota West High School cafeteria.
2017 - This was the first year to hold what was formerly the evening program immediately following the lunch after the March for Unity.
Since its inception there have been several goals we have tried to maintain in regards to the program.
- We want everything to be well done, to fit in with the professional caliber of our communities, and to be respectful of the honor that this day’s commemoration deserves.
- We want the people who will be up front leading the program to represent both African-Americans and Caucasians, modeling an example of the races working together.
- We want the music we choose, with the exception of the song that was written specifically for this program that we always sing at the close, to be music that Martin Luther King, Jr. himself would have sung.
- We are mindful that all of his meetings and rallies began with worshiping God before any business was conducted and that Rev. King himself was a Christian, strong and unapologetic in his faith. Even so, the best outcome from anything we do would be to point people beyond just honoring a mere mortal, to instead see the God he served, from whom the same power to do great deeds of justice and righteousness is still available to each of us today.