Keeping Dr. King’s Dream Alive 50 Years Later

By Kintura Williams

NEWBURGH – The Black History Committee of the Hudson Valley hosted an event on the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Newburgh Board of Education on Wednesday night.
The event, called “The Dream Lives On…”, served as a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The Black History Committee of the Hudson Valley planned the event as a way to inform the local community about the accomplishments of Dr.King during the Civil Rights movement, and the different ways they can work to maintain his legacy today.

Longtime Black History Committee of the Hudson Valley President Sadie Tallie reiterated that the event was not celebratory.

“We work very hard to make sure that the community, especially the youth, never forgets that society was built on the effort and the backs of black people like Dr. King,” said President Tallie.

Roxie Royal, President of the Newburgh/Highland Falls NAACP Chapter, welcomed an auditorium filled with students, committee members, parents and teachers with warm words and a joined chorus of the Black National Anthem. Committee members Ramona Burton, Gay Lee and Gabrielle Burton Hill provided the audience with information on Dr. King’s life from his time as a child in the Black Church, to becoming an honorable recipient of the Nobel peace prize, and securing the right to vote for black Americans.

Seventh and eighth grade students from South Middle School’s “My Brother’s Keeper” program performed readings and dedications from Newburgh elders, sharing their stories with the community. The stories will be part of the Black History Committee of the Hudson Valley’s first work on a historical book of black history. When published, the volunteer-run committee plans to include most stories from Newburgh elders, but is open to stories from other parts of the Hudson Valley.

“It is important to us to make sure that the members of the Black History Committee are the ones who initially decide how to tell these stories”, said Ramona Burton “so much history gets lost when you don’t allow people to tell their own stories, and we want to stay true to that.”

This collaborative effort by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., Black Pioneers, Broadway Tailors, the City of Newburgh Human Rights Commission, the Restorative Center for Restorative Justice, NAACP and the Christian Ministerial Fellowship is the Black History Committee of the Hudson Valley’s fourth event this year and the second in honor of Dr. King. The committee intends to continue with more informative events for 2018, with the publishing date for the historical book of black history projected for July.