SOUTH ORANGE - Villagers here got ahead of their neighbors in commemorating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in celebration and contemplation Jan. 10-11.
An audience of about 20 joined members of the First Baptist Church of South Orange in praising Dr. King in song and dance in the village's public library Jan. 11.
Six members of the church's youth chorus, led by director Artrice Ritchwood and accompanied by the group's pianist, sang three Gospel songs in the library's meeting room. They shared the performance space with solo performances by a Mrs. Edwards of FBCOSO's Erthen Vessel dance ministry.
The youth choir's fourth annual performance is in keeping with Dr. King's background. He was raised by his father, who was pastor of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, and was pastor of Montgomery Ala.'s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in 1954 - a year before the bus boycott began.
"You are wonderful," said South Orange Public Library Special Events director Phyllis Kalb afterwards. "I appreciate the work, effort and time you've put in to be with us for the last four years."
Kalb added that she has held other performances and discussions just prior to Dr. King's Jan. 15 birthday - or at least before the federal third Monday in January - for most of her 24 years in SOPL employ.
"We've held such events before the birthday," said Kalb. "It gets busy on or before the birthday weekend."
The South Orange Civic Organization had meanwhile held its 40th annual Martin Luther King Celebration at the South Orange Middle School Jan. 10. Rutgers University history professor Dr. Clement A. Price and local consultant and journal publisher Barbara Heisler Williams were invited to discuss "40 Years Later: Still a Work in Progress," on integration, before an audience in SOMS's Sterling Hall Auditorium.
SOCO's 40th observance predates Dr. King's birthday becoming a state holiday. The third Monday in January eventually became a federal holiday in 1986. The event also predates the 1990's creation of the South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race - of which Williams was its founding executive director.
SOCO also presented Kalb an award for her contributions to improving race relations in the 1990s.
The two South Orange/Maplewood events head a wide range of commemorative events found through Local Talk News' municipalities and around the world.
SOMCCR, for example, has planned its 9th annual interfaith observance at the South Orange Vailsburg United Methodist Church 3 p.m. Jan. 18. Marc H. Morial - current Urban League CEO and former New Orleans mayor - is the event's featured speaker on a bill that includes Voices in Harmony and a volunteer fair-reception.
Morial is to also speak at the Newark Museum's celebration 1:30 p.m. Jan. 18.
The City of Orange Township and Board of Education is scheduling its annual recreation of the first Selma to Montgomery March for voting rights. Scotland Road is to stand in for US Route 80 and its 1973-built Interstate 280 overpass is to portray the Edmund Pettis Bridge. The March 7, 1965 event became "Bloody Sunday" when Selma and Alabama State Police attacked the nearly 600 marchers at the bridge, sending 17 to local hospitals.
"This is one of our busy times of the year," said Ritchwood. "We're invited to several events around Dr. King's birthday and through Black History Month in February. We also perform for children around Halloween."
Ritchwood said that the chorus has been around since before she became director. It is one of several ministries provided by FBCOSO, founded in 1895 and has been at 103 Valley Rd. - four blocks south of the library - since 1913.
The youth chorus, said Ritchwood, is for eight to 18-year-old church members. She said that four of the six performers are Columbia High School Students with a fifth in Montclair High and a sixth in Newark's Barringer HS.
"The chorus has grown in the four years," said Kalb. "They were shorter when we started."
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