From A Dream Comes A Tribute
Bowie Woman Helps Organize Celebration of King's Life, for Young and Old
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 11, 2007; Page T01
Joan Christian and some of her fellow Bowie residents were sitting around talking one day last year about Martin Luther King Jr. when they came up with an idea.
Let's organize an annual event to celebrate King's birthday, they said.
  Martin Luther King Jr., shown at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington in 1963. (Associated Press File Photo) |
"There is so much about him that children are not taught in school," said Christian, 73, a resident of Bowie for the past 10 years.
Christian was part of a task force set up to examine race relations in the city. The task force led to the creation of the city's Diversity Committee, which for years has sponsored art, poetry and essay contests for students in kindergarten through grade 12. The contests have been a wonderful tribute to King, said Christian, but she wanted to expand on them by organizing a celebration in which all residents, young and old, could participate.
Christian and her friends formed the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Committee of Bowie. Beginning Saturday, the committee will host a weekend of song, dance and retrospection.
The celebration will be especially poignant for Christian, who attended King's funeral in Atlanta nearly 39 years ago. She went with a friend who was a relative of the King family.
"I really hope that it would mean a coming together of the various groups in Bowie," Christian said of the celebration.
Since March, Christian and her friends have been organizing the three-day celebration for King, who would have turned 78 on Jan. 15. To help organize the event, Christian, a columnist for the Bowie Blade, contacted residents she had met at City Hall and at County Council meetings, along with members of the Bowie Homeowners' Association. The event is being funded through donations.
Saturday will feature an intergenerational workshop to study how residents remember King and his work. Also, Pin Points Theatre, a District-based group, will perform a show depicting what might have happened at a meeting of King and Malcolm X. A step show by Eleanor Roosevelt High School students and a musical chronology of the civil rights movement will also be featured. Peggy Magee, clerk of the Circuit Court, will be the keynote speaker.
Sunday will begin with a fellowship hour followed by a recital by children from the Mitchellville School of Music. County Council member Ingrid M. Turner (D) will lead a roundtable discussion. The three-day celebration will conclude with an ecumenical service Monday. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) is the day's keynote speaker.
Meanwhile, Bowie's Diversity Committee will have its celebration, "Fulfilling the Dream," and announce the winners of the art, poetry and essay contests Tuesday. Una Cooper, communications coordinator for the city of Bowie, said the Diversity Committee and the new commemorative committee are working together.
"We're very supportive of what the community group is doing," Cooper said.
