SAN ANGELO, Texas — On Aug. 28, 1963, at the height of the American Civil Rights Movement, activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. joined thousands of peaceful protestors for an event that would come to be known as the March on Washington.
Now 60 years later, this historic moment is being remembered in San Angelo by the Martin Luther King Jr. Association at San Angelo City Hall for a Celebrate Unity event.
"The March on Washington - what occurred was, the movement ceased to be regional, strictly Black, it became a national movement," St. Mark Presbyterian Church pastor and MLK association charter member, Craig Meyers, said. "It was America coming together, 250,000 people coming together who were white, Black, brown, Protestant, Catholic, Jew, old, young, Democrat, Republican, subordinated all of their things that divide them to commit to a unity that comes from most of our faith and our patriotism."
Meyers and his wife, Sally, lived to see how this movement shaped the United States as protests big and small began to spread throughout the country. Ten years ago, their organization honored the 50th anniversary of the march. They hope for the upcoming event to be another way to bridge connection in the community.
At 10:30 a.m. Aug. 26, in front of City Hall, 72 W. College Ave., there will be speeches, inspirational music and more with groups including COSA representatives, the NAACP and the Minority Alliance Network Organization, all in attendance.
"We hope that three things happen," Meyers said. "The first is we really need to remember our history at a time when people are saying we shouldn't realize all of our history if it was embarrassing or might make people feel bad. And if you don't know your history you don't know how to deal with how you got where you are with confidence that you can do something in the future and you just sit back and look at problems, don't see any way out."
Meyers wants to embrace how far San Angelo has come while also making sure to remember the past.
"We live in a time where we've come a long way but I'm not on the internet much but I hear an awful lot of divisive misinformation and things that are pretty hate-filled that indicate we're not as unified as a nation, community as we oughta be," he said.
He said he hopes people attend the event and leave it with a mindset of continued united growth.
Go to Celebrate Unity to learn more.
