The King Legacy Celebration
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Announces:
We are excited to inform you that the annual King Legacy Celebration will be held on January 18, 2021, at 9:00 AM in a virtual format. This is Cincinnati’s premier event honoring steadfast progress in civil rights. The life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. embodies the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center’s principles of courage, cooperation and perseverance. Although our annual celebration as an in-person experience has been interrupted due to COVID-19, our commitment to end oppression, racism and violence cannot waver. Tickets and additional details are available at King Legacy Celebration.
The Commemorative Civil Rights March and Motorcade
For 46 years, Cincinnati has remembered Dr. King and all those who walked and sacrificed with him in the movement for civil rights with a Commemorative Civil Rights March. Each year we continue this tradition as an act of recommitting ourselves to hold the ground already gained, and secure the full rights of citizenship for generations to come. The 2021 MLK Commemorative March and Motorcade leaves the Freedom Center at 10:30AM.
This year, in order to provide the safest options during the pandemic, there is a third way to be part of the annual tradition. Participants can drive their personal car in the Motorcade that will follow the marchers and the Rosa Parks Buses. As a beautiful symbol of the non-violent protest against racism that marked the Freedom Movement, Cincinnati’s Metro provides buses which proudly declare themselves as a “Rosa Parks Bus.” This beautiful symbol is also a very practical benefit, providing access for participation to even more people. Radio station WCVG 1320AM will broadcast freedom songs and live reporting from the March route from 10:30am to 12:00pm (noon). The March begins at the Freedom Center and proceeds along a 1-mile route through the city. Marchers and buses will return to the Freedom Center. Cincinnati Police Department will disperse cars at 3rd Street.
Options for participation:
1. Join the Motorcade. To drive your car with only your “safe bubble” people, and join the line of vehicles moving through the city, registration is required by clicking the MOTORCADE button. This is the best way to socially distance. All necessary information will be sent with your registration notice.
2. Join the marchers. All recommended COVID-19 protocols will be in place: wearing a mask, social distancing, staying home if you feel sick or have been exposed. Line up behind the MLK Banner, starting at 10:15AM.
3. Ride the Rosa Parks Bus: limited seating is available. Registration is required by clicking the BUS button or calling the MLK Coalition at 513-491-3448. All recommended COVID-19 protocols will be in place: wearing a mask, social distancing, staying home if you feel sick or have been exposed.
Music Hall Virtual Commemorative Program
We Will Never Be Satisfied Until Justice Rolls Down Like Water
Will there be an MLK Day Program this year? Yes, but it will be a virtual program. The MLK Commemorative Program premieres on MLK Day 2021 at 12:00PM on this website. The program will be available for viewing at a later time, as well. The 2021 MLK Day Keynote speaker, Rev. Nelson Pierce, Jr., will address this year’s theme, “We Will Never Be Satisfied Until Justice Rolls Down Like Water.” Rev. Pierce is the senior pastor of Beloved Community Church, and is the Faith and Race Program Director in the Center for Faith and Justice at Xavier University.
Although the MLK Chorale is not singing together this year, the program will be filled with music. MLK Chorale Director Lois Shegog and former director Steve Milloy have several musical treasures to share. University students share their talents, and we welcome back students who come to us through WordPlay to share their spoken-word artistry.
We’ll miss the Cincinnati Library table in the Music Hall lobby. But our 2021 Resource list is in the MLK Day 2021 Program Book, with many newly reviewed books and other media formats for all ages. In addition, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County will be a recipient of a portion of the contributions made to the MLK Coalition, to add more resources about Dr. King and the freedom movement to their collections.