Greenville Honors MLK Visit

In fact, they still use the same pulpit Dr. King spoke from that day long ago.

 

Kenneth Robinson doesn’t remember that pulpit very much. He actually doesn’t remember much of what happened that day in 1965. He was only ten-years-old at the time.

 

“But I do remember that day,” Robinson said, “they thought it important enough to take me out of class so that I could be in the church and see Martin Luther King with my own two eyes.”

 

While he doesn’t remember what Dr. King said that day, Robinson does recall the excitement in the air.

 

“It was almost like a festival event,” Robinson remembers. “There were people bouncing around, laughing. The place was packed. I mean, standing room only. And like they said earlier, the church was filled to capacity, and people were standing on the outside. It was like, royalty had come to Greenville.”

 

Not many people in the city knew of Dr. King’s stop in Greenville. After doing some research, city officials and the public library found dozens of pictures of the visit. They decided the best way to preserve and honor the memory was to dedicate a large portrait of Dr. King back to the church. On Thursday night, they did just that. At six o’clock Mayor Dexter McLendon and several others spoke while citizens of Greenville came to look at the pictures of the late Dr. King.

 

Barry Grace, the Chairmen of the Deacon Board at Harrison Street Church, was at the dedication. He hopes the new portrait will help the younger individuals in the congregation remember and learn from the mistakes of the past.

 

“Well, it’s very enthused us,” Grace said, “because it’s meaningful for the youth of today and then, to know what happened yesterday, so that way way we know where we’re going in the near future.”

 

Robinson thinks the visit helped bring the community of Greenville together, in spite of skin color, to fight what was wrong.

 

“Dr. Martin Luther King, he sheparded this. He championed this. He was our pied piper, the leader that lead us into this and it was a pivotal moment in history for Greenville that he came here,” Robinson said.