DAPHNE, Ala. — Several Baldwin County residents gathered on Main Street on Monday to celebrate the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.

They hugged. They talked. They laughed. Then, they began walking, and they didn’t stop until they found seats inside the Daphne Civic Center.

Some walked for a hopeful future; others walked to celebrate how far racial equality has come.

Eddie Rudolph carried framed art that displayed a portrait of King preceding the first black president of the United States, Barack Obama. He said he’s had the artwork for a couple of years, and sees it as a symbol or how far the country has come.

Portia Harper and Elnora Jackson of Daphne carried signs celebrating King’s legacy. Harper’s sign read, “A day on, not a day off,” referring to active remembrance of the slain civil-rights advocate, as opposed to seeing the day as just another holiday from work. Jackson’s sign read, “Drum major for peace.” “He was an emphasis on peace and non-violence,” Jackson said about King.  Others injected politics into the occasion, carrying signs that read, for instance, “Keep our health care coverage or will the injustice continue?” The sign referred to the House of Representatives’ Republican majority vowing to repeal the health care law. As residents walked, they sang songs of the struggle for racial de-segregation in America. The first song, marchers began singing, “We shall overcome,” includes the lyrics: “Deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome. God will see us through.” Daphne City Councilmen Bailey Yelding and John Lake, Foley City Councilwoman Vera Quaites, the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and the Little Rock choir of Foley also participated in the march.

(Staff video by Devin R. Golden; edited by Thomas Boni)

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