Thirty-seventh annual celebration service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thirty-seventh annual celebration service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Submitted by Michael Robinson

     New Mount Olive Baptist Church, 400 N.W. Ninth Ave, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will host the 37th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Celebration Service on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 at 4 p.m.  The service will be sponsored by the Zeta Alpha Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

    This year’s celebration will include Minister Eddie Robinson and the Men’s Chorus of Mount Olive. Prominent Attorney W. George Allen will be the guest speaker.   

    Attorney W. George Allen, a native of Sanford, Fla., is the sole proprietor of the Law Offices of W. George Allen in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he has been in practice for more than 49 years. He has championed human rights and dignity throughout his career. Attorney Allen filed the lawsuit that integrated Broward County and Hendry County public schools and which assured that all the children were entitled to an “equal” education.

    Throughout his career, Attorney Allen has received numerous awards for his professional achievements and civic contributions. The University of Florida Levin College of Law, Black students named their bar association, “The W. George Allen Black Student Bar Association,” was bestowed with the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the University of Florida (2000), and was inducted into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame (2003).

    Attorney Allen matriculated at Florida A&M University (1958), served in the United States Army as a Special Agent with the Counter Intelligence Corps (1958-1960), entered the College of Law at the University of Florida where, in 1962, he was the first Black person to earn a degree in any former white institution in Florida, thus integrating higher education in Florida and the Southeast United States. 

    On Oct. 12 and 13, 2012, Attorney Allen was the special honored guest at the University of Florida and the Levin School of Law, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of his graduation and his part in integrating former all whites colleges and universities in the Southeast United States.  Attorney Allen is a proud life member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.

    He has recently published a book with a civil rights historical perspective entitled, Where the Bus Stops. 

    Attorney Allen is married to his college sweetheart, Enid C. Meadows Allen, and has four children: three sons, Timothy, Frederick, and Jonathan, and one daughter, Amy.

    The annual celebration service is in recognition of the magnificent works of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King’s noble precepts and ideals regarding equal rights, privileges and love for all mankind led to the Congressional Declaration of Jan. 15th as a National Holiday in his honor, and the construction of the MLK National Monument in Washington D.C.

    For further information, con-tact the church at (954) 463-5126 or Brother Michael A. Robinson at (954) 831-7258.