The Philadelphia Martin Luther King, Jr. Association for Nonviolence hosted their annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday observance on Monday, January 16, 2023.
This year was extra special because it was the first time since 2020 that the Association was able to host their awards banquet because of the Coronavirus pandemic. This year marked the 40th luncheon that the organization has hosted and this year marked the 37th time they’ve hosted a symbolic bell ringing at 5th and market at the Liberty Bell Pavilion.
In terms of history, people should know that the late Coretta Scott King, the wife of rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had the King Association based in Atlanta, Georgia to commission Dr. C. Delores Tucker to found the first and only full-time outreach affiliate of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, to have an active educational program on Kingian principles of love, nonviolence and the life of Dr. King. Coretta Scott King envisioned the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and Big Ben in London, England, ringing simultaneously with other church bells at locations around the world to mark the national holiday for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Even during the height of the pandemic, while the annual awards luncheon that the King Association in Philadelphia always hosts had to be put on hold for two years–the symbolic ringing of the Liberty Bell ceremony still took place, thanks to support from the Fairmount Park Rangers, who oversee operations of the Liberty Bell Plaza.
This year, Mr. and Mrs. Susan and Harold Rosenthal were selected as the National Bell Ringers. There’s a long list of National bell ringers for the Philadelphia MLK Association, including the likes of Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King, III, the late Rosa Parks, the late, Honorable Colin Powell, the late Actor Ossie Davis, the late Actress Cicely Tyson, Melba Moore, Philadelphia’s own Sister Sledge, Philadelphia’s own Boys to Men, the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Bernard C. Watson and the late Reverend Leon H. Sullivan, the Lion of Zion.
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