March held to commemorate 50th anniversary

Fifty years after his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King Jr.’s words were remembered across the nation and on campus on Wednesday, Aug. 28.

The speech became known as an integral part of the Civil Rights movement that was taking place in the 1960s, but continues to hold relevant today as discrimination still exists.

Fifty years later, the first black president of the United States, Barack Obama, delivered a speech in the same location to people who had gathered between the two landmarks of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

That same day, 15 UNA students and faculty members gathered in the Rivers and Rice Halls parking lot 50 years later with their own march beginning at 4:18 p.m.

Deondrick Orr, vice president of the Beta Beta Alpha chapter of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity at UNA, led the march.

“I felt like I was back in 1963,” Orr said. “Honestly, it is just surreal. I was leading the line, and Martin Luther King led the line. The emotions were just running through me, like, this is something big. This was not about me; this was not about this campus.”

The march at UNA started in the parking lot and led to Memorial Amphitheater. After the march, there was a program held on the stage of the amphitheater where Tom Osborne, a former UNA history professor, spoke to attendees about life leading up to the “I Have a Dream” speech. 

After the March on Washington, the focus of news stations was on the fact that the marchers were so peaceful, he said.

It was only after King’s speech being played multiple times on the radio and television that the speech started to make a difference, Osborne said.

Following Osborne’s keynote speech, King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was played over the speakers.

Torri Bailey, president of the Tri-County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and general manager of WZZA Radio 1410 AM, closed the program with a speech.

The country has moments when it takes steps forward and moments when it takes step back in the Civil Rights movement, she said.

Bailey said she sees good and bad characteristics in college-aged Americans.

“You are a lot less judgmental; I think that you are a lot less afraid of people who look different than you,” she said. “I also think that sometimes you guys are oblivious to what’s going on and you don’t always stay engaged with the world around you.”

Orr said he is happy with how well college-aged students treat each other, but there is still room to improve.

“I believe our generation is moving forward, and we will continue to move forward as long as we keep the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr.,” he said. “I think we just need to come together more. We need to collaborate more, because we all go to school together, but how many truly, honestly hang out with other people? 

That is something that even I am working on myself. I am going to be more active; I am going to start going to more events.”

On Sept. 13, the Department of History and Political will be hosting a conference commemorating the 50th anniversary of desegregation at the University of North Alabama. For more information on the event, visit una.edu/history/desegregation.

Life Editor Kali Daniel contributed to this story.