Video: An Aliceville Man Remembers What The Day Was Like When Martin Luther King Was Killed

ALICEVILLE, AL. (WCBI) – Today would be Martin Luther King’s 88th birthday, and to celebrate his birth and legacy, we have Martin Luther King Day.

Almost 100 New Wright Missionary Baptist Church members came together to remember the iconic figure.

This year marks the 31st Martin Luther King Day, and the oldest African American church in Pickens County has been celebrating it for the last thirty.

“When we look back and we see how he was able to pull people together, and they put marches together, you know, we might not be marching today, but it’s symbolic to us coming together, by marching to a certain location,” says New Wright Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Richard Hood.

From the Selma Marches, to the bombings in Birmingham; Alabama was essentially ground zero in the Civil Rights Movement.

A fact not lost on Aliceville native, Bishop Willie Cole, who was living in Chicago while the struggle in Alabama raged.

“We saw the marches and demonstrations, and what was going on back here in Alabama. It was rough and we’re here today, to look back at the great achievements that this man, Martin Luther King, the legacy that he left.”

Bishop Cole was still living in Chicago when history changed that April morning in Memphis.

“I was there when the announcement was made that he was shot. My wife and I were at work and we left work, and by the time we got to the south side where we lived, Chicago was smoking already.”

Cole is back home for good now, and he remembers an Aliceville that was, and dreams of an Aliceville to come.

“I grew up here in Aliceville in the early fifties, I can remember from then on that, you know, I’m 75, so I know what the fight has been, and I know what it’s about, and I know what it still is, but we’re going to come through this.”