Albany celebrating anniversary of March on Washington

ALBANY, Ga. – The City of Albany will be celebrating a major historical event this weekend right here at Shiloh Baptist Church, as they celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington.

Frank Wilson and Tyler Harris are two of the organizers commemorating the 60 year anniversary on Saturday, and they’re starting along the very same foot trail that Dr. King walked along in 1963 at Shiloh.

“This marks the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, a pivotal day in American history. And, Albany played a pivotal role in that process. We’re just proud to be here and celebrate,” said Tyler Harris, Organizer.

“We’ll begin with a march from the Albany Civic Center to this location, after which we’ll have a program which will feature Ms. Johnson doing a poetic reading that was tailor made for this event, and we will have speakers; both local and national speakers here,” said Frank Wilson, Organizer.

In addition to motivational speakers and gospel singers this weekend, organizers are hoping that those who come out to the celebration Saturday understand that work still needs to be done.

“We are hoping school children, teachers, and everybody will be here to make sure that we understand that we still March from ’63 to 2023 because we’re still addressing some of the same issues,” said Wilson.

And for gospel singer, Ida Austin, she remembers wanting to be a part of that Civil Rights March decades earlier, but is honored to be a part of the celebration in 2023.

“…I was a teenager. I stood right there in the door, and watched a lot of the mass meetings that were held. And, just to know that in this season of my life, that I can be a part of this, at that time, I couldn’t, because my father wouldn’t allow me to. But, at this season of my life, I am allowed to do it, and I count it a blessing,” said Ida Austin, Gospel Singer.

As the commemoration of the March on Washington takes place and people today walk the very same path that Dr. King did decades earlier, they’ll be reminded of how far they’ve come.

The march from the Albany Civic Center to Shiloh Baptist Church will begin at the Albany Civic Center at 9 a.m. Saturday morning with the rest of the event taking place in the 300 block of Whitney Avenue.

Brian Roche reporting.

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