The life and legacy of civil rights icon the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. will be celebrated across Northeast Florida in the days leading up the Jan. 20 holiday in his honor.
Events will be in Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach and St. Augustine, where King visited in 1964 to lead a nonviolent campaign against segregation and discrimination and was arrested.
Four years later, King was fatally shot in Memphis, Tenn. And 56 years later, people across the world cite his work as a guiding light.
Last year Jacksonville city and NAACP leaders honored him together, holding a joint community breakfast for the first time since 2017 and pledging cooperation to end ongoing racial inequities and social divisions across the city.
When will Jacksonville’s Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast be?
At 8 a.m. Friday the city of Jacksonville, NAACP, Urban League and JAX Chamber will hold the 38th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast presented by Florida Blue. The event will be at the Prime Osborn Convention Center with the theme “Audacious Faith in the Future,” a phrase from King’s 1964 Nobel Prize acceptance speech.
Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “King: A Life,” will provide the keynote address and participate in a “fireside chat” with Isaiah Oliver, president of The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida.
The breakfast also will feature VyStar Credit Union’s “2025 Tomorrow’s Leaders” winners, chosen from student essay, poetry and visual arts submissions. The theme is King’s quote “We must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future.”
For a list of the winners, go to specialevents.coj.net/Special-Events/Martin-Luther-King-Jr-Breakfast.aspx#ShowMore.
How can people attend Jacksonville’s MLK breakfast?
Tickets are $70. To purchase or get more information, go to JaxMLKBreakfast.com.
When will Jacksonville’s Martin Luther King Jr. parade be?
Jacksonville’s MLK Day Parade will begin at 10 a.m. that Monday at EverBank Stadium, wind two miles through downtown and end at the Prime Osborn Convention Center. The parade will feature floats, marching bands, dance troupes and decorated vehicles.
When will Jacksonville’s Beaches honor Martin Luther King Jr.?
The Beaches Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration will be 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Paul’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, 465 11th Ave. N. in Jacksonville Beach.
The keynote speaker will be Bishop Rudolph McKissick Jr., senior pastor of Bethel Church in Jacksonville. The event is sponsored by the Rhoda L. Martin Cultural Heritage Center in Jacksonville Beach and Reconcile Jacksonville’s Beaches.
When are St. Augustine’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations?
The Dr. Martin Luther King Celebration Committee of St. Johns County will host St. Augustine’s 40th annual commemorative event Saturday beginning with a 7:30 a.m. breakfast.
The breakfast, which is sold out, takes place at Renaissance St. Augustine Historic Downtown Hotel at 6 W. Castillo Drive. Attorney and civil rights activist Daryl Parks will be featured.
The annual King Day silent march will be at 9 a.m. that Monday. The march will begin at 87 MLK Ave. at Saint Paul AME Church and continue to the Plaza de la Constitución. At the plaza, Pastor E. Chris Washington of Beacon of Light in Panama City will address the crowd. A graduate of St. Augustine High School, Washington founded People Helping People in St. Augustine.
Are King Day community service opportunities available?
The United Way of Northeast Florida will have its annual MLK Weekend of Service on Saturday.Hundreds of volunteers will “uplift Dr. King’s legacy of unity and tackle economic challenges in underserved communities in need of support,” working on projects in Duval, Clay and Nassau counties that “reflect … urgent needs,” according to the United Way.
For a list of projects, go to uwnefl.galaxydigital.com/mlk-weekend-of-service-2025.
bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville area plans grand Martin Luther King Jr. events