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Grambling State University president Frank G. Pogue will be the keynote speaker at the ninth annual Martin Luther King Day Noon Ecumenical service Monday in the Ruston Civic Center.
This service follows the annual Martin Luther King Unity March and Parade that will start at 11:30 a.m. at Louisiana Tech’s Thomas Assembly Center. Marchers will meet at 11:15 a.m. The march and parade will proceed east on Alabama Avenue and north on Monroe Street to the south entrance of the civic center. Those participating in the second leg of the march can join at Homer and Alabama streets, two blocks from the civic center.
Grand marshals for the parade will be Louisiana Tech head basketball coach Teresa Weatherspoon and the Lady Techsters basketball team, and members of the Boys and Girls Club of North Central Louisiana.
The program will include participation by student groups and leaders from Grambling State and Tech universities, community groups, area ministers and church choir directors.
The theme for this year’s program is “Stepping into the Past to Reconstruct the Future.” The theme was suggested by Tech student Jeremy James, president of the United African American Men and a member of the program’s planning committee.
Music will be provided by the Rainbow Covenant Community Choir, a group comprising singers from the area coming together just for this event. Organized and coordinated by Lindelle Turner Weaver, the choir is accompanied by members of the South Parkway Church band with area musicians.
The program will continue a tradition in which a different church choir director directs each song on the program. A free jambalaya lunch with peach cobbler will be served.
Other Martin Luther King Jr. programs include:
n Monroe’s 32nd annual Birthday Salute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the W.L. “Jack” Howard Theater at the Monroe Civic Center complex. The Rev. James E. Jackson, pastor of Faith Harvest Baptist Church in Monroe, is speaker. The community is invited to the event.