I Marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We’ve Forgotten How to Truly Honor Him (Exclusive)

Florence Cunningham, an AmeriCorps Seniors volunteer with the Foster Grandparents Program, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in alabama in 1965. She continues to honor his legacy in this personal essay for PEOPLE encouraging everyone to volunteer about martin luther king jr. National Day of Service on January 15 and throughout the year.

I grew up in a small town in Illinois called Hillsboro. There was great prejudice there, and that veil of darkness would cast its shadow again when I lived in Phoenix, Arizona.

One particular night, the restaurant wouldn’t let my husband in uniform, who served in the Air Force, inside. They refused us and did not allow us to eat in their restaurant. They made us bring food.

Those experiences made me angry; I was ready to fight. So when I saw flyers about joining the civil rights movement, I knew it was time to join the fight.

But when I arrived, the first words I heard were: “If you have come to fight, go home because we will not fight; this is a peaceful movement.” And when I heard that, I got angry again.

But the more I listened to Martin Luther King Jr. as he says, I became calmer; his words reached inside and found a deeper meaning. The man had a beautiful voice; he had a powerful voice that could grab you and make you believe what he believed.

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Florence Cunningham.

Florence Cunningham

In late March 1965, I joined Dr. King and others in Alabama on the march from Selma to Montgomery. We hiked during the day and slept in fields by the road at night. All this time aircraft were flying over our heads and people were shooting over our heads. They shouted at us to go home and to return to where we belong.

We tried to eat at local lunch counters and were thrown in jail for trying to assemble peacefully. You cannot imagine or understand what it is like to be in such a situation. I have experienced discrimination before, but never to such an extent. To be sprayed with water, to have dogs turn on you and bite you, and to see police with guns telling you that you cannot eat there. I have never felt so much power turned against me. It was scary – very scary.

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dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. arrives in Montgomery, Alabama on March 25, 1965 at the height of the Selma to Montgomery march.

Morton Broffman/Getty Images

There were so many times we were all ready to give up, but Dr. King kept us all going.

Our group traveled to Memphis, Tennessee to try to help the striking sanitation workers there organize and become a union. We were originally supposed to stay at another hotel, but in the end they turned us away. So we found rooms on the second floor of the Lorraine Motel.

dr. King and a few other leaders talked about going to Ralph Abernathy’s house to eat some good old Negro food. dr. King had already been warned not to go out on the balcony. But he wanted to talk to his constituents and went outside. He was only out for about five minutes or so.

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. stands with other civil rights leaders on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., on April 3, 1968, the day before he was assassinated at approximately the same location.

AP Photo/Charles Kelly

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Then a shot rang out. And I just felt in my heart that he was going to die.

Me and the others stormed out of our rooms. We ran to him, desperately looking for something to help, something to save him. But nobody could do anything. He went.

At first, everyone wanted to fight, just like the rest of the country. But we realized that we had to respect Dr. King’s wishes and remain calm.

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Just the day before, Dr. King had given his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. He talked about threats to life and warned of difficult days. “But that doesn’t matter to me now,” he said. “Because I was on top of the mountain. And I don’t mind. Like everyone, I would like to live a long time. Longevity has its place. But I’m not worried about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He allowed me to go to the mountain. And I looked. And I saw the promised land. I might not make it with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will reach the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight.”

Today, many people have forgotten what those days were like. They may be celebrating a national holiday, but they’ve forgotten Martin Luther King. Jr. Those of us who were there will always remember. But others may not know how to truly honor him.

Thousands of people gather at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, on August 26, 2023, for the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington in 1963 when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. talked about his dream of a fairer and more equal America.

Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post via Getty Images

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Today I am honoring Dr. King by serving in AmeriCorps as a foster grandparent. I have served at an elementary school in Sterling, Illinois for many years and am in my second year in a second grade classroom, reading to students and helping them with math. It is very useful. I have found that you can always learn from children, because they will teach you some things that you may have forgotten. That is my greatest reward.

It was a great experience with Dr. King; it was something I never thought I would get into or become a part of. It was something I learned to love and always remember, and from then on be calm in everything I do in life. No more ugliness, no more trying to fight, no more even thinking about it.

Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service provides a wonderful opportunity to honor Dr. King’s legacy by working toward a fairer and more just society, where everyone is valued and respected, regardless of race, ability, religion, or background. More people should know what it is about and how it has affected everyone’s lives. We should never forget that, especially in today’s world. A movement, a march, a peaceful acknowledgment from everyone, not just one person – we all have to work together to get this country going.

Serving on MLK Day can be a great way to start volunteering throughout the year. Volunteers are needed in every community in America — that’s why I got involved with AmeriCorps Seniors and encourage others to serve as well.

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Source: HIS Education