By Jessica Coates
jessica.coates@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — April 4 is the 50th anniversary of when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

In honor of King’s life, the Salisbury-Rowan branch of the NAACP will hold a service Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at Mount Zion Baptist Church, which is located at 1920 Shirley Avenue.

Salisbury-Rowan NAACP branch President Gemale Black said this is the first time the branch has held such an event. But he said he hopes it will continue annually.

“I think it’s very important to have this event because we want to remember where our ancestors started. We have to continue their legacy and not forget the dream that Martin Luther King Jr. had, that Harriet Tubman had, that (Linda) Brown had,” Black said. “We’ve got to think of these things and continue to move forward, not backward.”

The service will include a keynote sermon from the branch’s religious affairs committee chair, Marcus L. Fairley. Fairley is the pastor at St. Luke Baptist Church in Salisbury.

The service will also feature the Livingstone gospel choir.

It will run from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Food will be served afterward and all ages are welcome to attend.

“It was the dream and goal of Dr. King to have equality, justice and encouragement to see the struggle through until the end,” said a news release about the event. “We will gather to commemorate the legacy that Dr. King represented and will call our community leaders, pastors, city officials, citizens of Salisbury and Rowan County to act on the ills of the city and community to make it a better place for us all.”

If you have questions about the event, call the Salisbury-Rowan NAACP branch at 704-645-9906.

Contact reporter Jessica Coates at 704-797-4222.