COLOMBIA—The state marquee Martin Luther King Jr. Day event attracts civil rights leaders and presidential candidates from across the country and will return in person this year for the first time since 2020, organizers announced this week.
The South Carolina NAACP’s 23rd Annual King’s Day at the Dome will be held on January 16 with the theme “Once It Happens, It Can Happen Again.”
The first King Day at the Dome was held in 2000 as a protest against the Confederate battle flag on the State Capitol dome, attracting approximately 46,000 demonstrators.
After state legislators removed the flag from the dome later that year and evicted it entirely from the Capitol grounds in 2015, the event maintained a spirit of protest and celebration of Dr. King’s achievements. turned into a rally for civil rights issues beyond that. National flag.
This year’s event will feature an 8:00 a.m. prayer service at Zion Baptist Church, a historic black church in downtown Columbia, before marching to the State Capitol and rallying where the Confederate flag once flew. It starts with service.
The final in-person event of 2020 was held just before the Southern United States’ first-ever presidential primary, attracting all the major Democratic candidates left in the race. The South Carolina primary ultimately propelled President Joe Biden to the nomination and eventual victory. The event has been held virtually for his two years after the pandemic hit.
MLK Day events are back in full force statewide with the MLK Breakfast Summit hosted by the Charleston YWCA on January 12th and the MLK Day Parade downtown on January 16th. January 16 Service and Inequality Forum.
