Bonnie K. Sargent
Apprentice The Jefferson County Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference will hold its first
Martin Luther King Kr. Day Parade on Saturday, Jan. 15, at 11 a.m.
James Ivery, president of the Jefferson County chapter of the SCLC, said the parade will be in
Louisville and will start out at the football field at Louisville Academy. He said lineup for the parade
is at 9 a.m. Ivery said the parade will leave the football field and go down Peachtree Street,
turn left onto Broad Street, go all the way down to Screven Street and down West 7th Street where
the police department used to be and go all the way back out to Peachtree Street and back to the
football field where the parade will end.
Ivery said there will be an after-parade event held with Louisville’s mayor Larry Morgan as a keynote speaker.
Ivery said students from Jefferson County High School have been writing essays on the topic of,
“Where do we go from here.” He said the two best essays would be picked and the students would
read them at the after-parade event. Ivery said there would be trophies awarded for best cars, trucks,
floats and high school bands.
Ivery said the purpose of the parade is to help unify the community and get rid of the racial divide.
“The SCLC mission is to address the issues of crime, violence, discrimination and racism,” he said.
“Not just in the black community, but in the whole county – black, white, Mexican and Chinese.”
Ivery said the racial gap is not as bad as it was in the 1970s or the early 1980s and it is even
better than it was last year.
“The parade promotes unity, healing the racial divide and bringing people together,” Ivery said.
He also said they added a little twist to the parade. He said all the citizens in Jefferson County
are asked to help keep King’s dream alive by donating nonperishable food items during the parade.
There will be several drop off spots along the parade routes, he said, as well as spots at IGA in Wadley;
Ingles and IGA in Louisville; and Ingles and IGA in Wrens. He said after the parade volunteers from the
food pantry will go around to each store and pick up the merchandise. From there, he said, it will be
put on the food pantry’s shelves to be distributed within the community.
“We are trying to help feed the hungry,” he said. “As well as bring our community together.”
Ivery said this will be the first Martin Luther King parade held by his organization. Ivery said the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People contacted him on Facebook, informing
him that it is not the first Martin Luther King parade to be held in Jefferson County. The NAACP held
several Martin Luther King parades in the 1980s and the 1990s.
Ivery said there will also be an SCLC Martin Luther King memorial held at Adams Chapel Church of
God in Christ. He said Rev. Alex Nelson will be the keynote speaker. Ivery said they plan to have this
annually as well.
“We’ve got some pretty good participation in the parade and the memorial,” Ivery said. “I think there will
be a lot of people attending.”
The Jefferson County Chapter NAACP will present its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Program at
Stone Springfield AME Sunday, Jan. 16, at 5 p.m., with speaker Rev. Frederick Favors, pastor of
Springfield Baptist Church in Thomson, and Rev. Michael Ephraim.