Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to be honored at Bullock Memorial Center
By Curtis Awbrey, Bullock Memorial Center
 To promote community fellowship and honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., on Monday, Jan. 15, Chickasha’s Bullock Memorial Center will host a fish fry fundraiser and four speakers will discuss how our community has impacted their successes and how they pass on those lessons and values to the next generations.
 From the segregated schoolhouses of Georgia, at the age of 15, King graduated high school. Like his grandfather and father, he received a Bachelor of Arts from Atlanta’s Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution.
 In 1951, he was elected president of a predominately white senior class at Crozer Theological Seminary where he received his Bachelor of Divinity, and, while serving as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, the 25-year-old Southern Baptist minister earned his doctorate from Boston College in 1955.
 While in Boston he met and married Coretta Scott. Together the couple had four children: Yolanda, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott and Bernice.
 Advocating for civil rights, King joined the executive committee of the NAACP, and in December 1955 led the 382-daylong Montgomery Bus Boycott. During the boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed and he was subjected to numerous acts of physical violence. Still, through this extreme adversity, he emerged as a civil rights leader. His perseverance was instrumental in landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions, including those that integrated public buses in 1956.
 Hailed as a masterpiece in rhetoric and one of history’s greatest speeches, on Aug. 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Monument in Washington, D.C., King delivered his “I Have a Dream” address to more than 250,000 civil rights supporters; the speech was televised to millions of viewers across the country.
 The next year, at age 35, he became the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He donated the $54,000 Nobel Prize money (valued at $535,000 today) to further advance civil rights for all.
 In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, banning discrimination in employment and public accommodations based on “race, color, religion or national origin.” Congress also passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which restored and protected the right to vote.
 Shortly after 6 p.m., April 4, 1968, the world-renowned civil rights leader and Nobel laureate was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 39.
 In 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a law to create Dr. Martin Luther King Day as a federal holiday; it was first observed nationally three years later on Jan. 20, 1986.
 From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. guests are invited to Chickasha’s Bullock Community Center, 917 S. First St., to enjoy golden fried catfish, fries, coleslaw and a roll in exchange for a $12 per-plate donation. Funds raised by the nonprofit organization support arts, education and tutoring programs for area children.
 In addition, Bullock Memorial Center will also host ‘It Starts With Me: Loving My Community.’ Speakers include Bruce Alexander, retired Oklahoma City firefighter/EMT; Lt. Traye Alexander, Chickasha Police Department; Coach Cristie Oliver, Chickasha High School; and Chickasha Public School administrator and Sheperd Street Christian Church Minister Milton Bowens Jr.
 Chickasha’s Bullock Memorial Community Center was established to commemorate Dr. W. A. J. Bullock, a physician and surgeon who saw both Black and white patients during the 1920s and ’30s. Championing for equality, during his lifetime, Dr. Bullock often spoke at city council meetings. A strong proponent for education, Dr. Bullock wrote a letter of recommendation lending his support to Ada Lois Sipuel-Fisher, the first Black woman accepted to the University of Oklahoma Law School.
 For more details about Bullock Memorial Center, the fish fry or ‘It Starts With Me: Loving My Community,’ call or text Charlotte Oliver at (405) 274-6268, Zelma Anikputa at (405) 905-7715 or email chickashabullock@gmail.com.