PANAMA CITY — Lessons for leading a life of service to others, preached by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., were in practice Monday during the annual recognition of the civil rights leader’s birth.
Nearly 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, several Bay County civic groups were encouraging students to follow examples set by King and other local leaders during the ACURE (Advisory Committee for Urban Revitalization Equity) annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in McKenzie Park.
— PHOTOS: Click here for a gallery from Monday's event »
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Some Bay County educators set up a tent for high school seniors interested in a life of service as tomorrow’s teachers with the Homer S. Jackson Sr. Scholarship.
“You have to have a dream — just like Dr. King,” said Zelene Boyd Cady, treasurer of the scholarship fund. “What we imagine in our minds and what we desire to do, we have to look for the avenues and routes to help reach that goal.”
The scholarship of $500 for qualifying students who plan to become teachers is designed to facilitate just that. The scholarship was inspired by a man who, Cady said, was “a pioneer of education.”
Jackson, an African-American educator, lecturer, philosopher, poet, writer and speaker, came to Bay County during World War II and organized programs and clubs for hundreds of youth no matter their race. Before there was a business program for black secondary students, Jackson set up a business school where many young people learned typing, bookkeeping and duplicating skills after school.
Jacksonserved as principal of March Green Elementary School, Oak Grove Elementary, Shaw Elementary and Rosenwald High schools. He retired from Bay District Schools as an assistant principal of Haney Vocational Technical School in 1984 and died shortly thereafter in 1994.
Walter Ford remembered arriving in Bay County in 1961, a few years prior to segregation, to continue his career in education at Haney Technical Center.
“The principal at that time said, ‘We can’t have “Negroes” here,’ ” Ford said. “The school hadn’t been integrated and he was thinking I wanted to go to school. He didn’t know I had my certification in building construction.”
In the years following, as integration moved forward, Ford oversaw a neighborhood youth corps, which started out going to the school one day of the week while teaching carpentry and construction off campus the remaining four days, he said.
Ford eventually took over Jackson’s position in 1984 and continued as Haney’s assistant principal until his own retirement in 1997.
Ford said despite significant advances in civil rights in the past 50 years, there was still “a lot to be desired,” he said.
On Monday, many schools and church groups participated in ACURE’s MLK holiday celebration by performing or selling local dishes or artworks. Election officials came out to advocate registration and participation on voting day.
The event, which ACURE was expecting to attract about 3,000 people throughout the day, has grown in its 27 years to be about cultural consciousness in Bay County. And every year it has been a success, according to ACURE chairman Myron Hines.
“Principally, it is to keep the kids engaged with positive activities all day long, because they are out of school,” Hines said. “We’ve never had a disappointing year; even when it rains people come out, because this is a great event for everyone in the community.”
» Click here for an application for the Future Teacher Scholarship