HANNIBAL, Mo. (WGEM) -
For 27 years, Martin Luther King Jr. Day has been celebrated all over the country and recognized as a national holiday. While the official holiday isn't until Monday, Hannibal residents started the celebration early in the Hannibal High School Auditorium.
Whether it was reenacting the famous speech or singing and dancing, people young and old, black and white came to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, and to this day, he's still having an impact on those in the community like Wesley Foster who grew up before the Civil Rights Era.
"He came on the scene and broke down the barrier and I began to go anywhere to a hotel or anywhere we wanted to go, didn't have to go through the back door and I could come in the front, and that was a blessing," Foster remembers.
Others like Ayla Lewis didn't grow up during the Civil Rights Era, but that doesn't mean Dr. King didn't have a big impact for her. She said having this remembrance is vital for all cities.
"Being so small, sometimes we don't get the, I know a lot of places they do the marches and they do the parades and I think it's just as important that we do the same to get it out there," Lewis said.
The event focused on not only the life of Dr. King, but how to move forward with his message. Steven Kyer was one of four speakers to talk on the importance of education for young people, and he said it's a way to keep the teachings of Dr. King alive in the community.
"For the Dr. Martin Luther King Day we're just taking that message and expanding on the message, I believe is what he would've said and what he would've shared on this very day," he said.
Kyer said for people to move forward in their lives, they first have to educate themselves on their past.
