Keynote speaker JoAnne Bland, who participated in the 1967 Selma to Montgomery March, talks to students remotely during Marietta College’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration on Saturday. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)

MARIETTA — Students, faculty and community members celebrated the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at Marietta College on Saturday.

Marietta hosted a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration at the Alma McDonough Auditorium. It was sponsored by the college’s Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion, the Civil War Roundtable of the Mid-Ohio Valley and ServeOhio.

The event started off with six groups of students giving presentations about what they learned on their fall break experience trip to Montgomery and Selma, Alabama, “Exploring Black Slavery: 1619 through Today.” The topics the students discussed included the Underground Railroad, abolition, the Civil War and slavery, Jim Crow laws, Reconstruction, the civil rights movement and more.

Karen Stevens Walker of the Multicultural Genealogical Center in Chesterhill, Ohio, sang “Amazing Grace” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, also known as the Black National Anthem. Then she led a moment of silence.

Keynote speaker JoAnne Bland spoke remotely about how she became involved in the civil rights movement at a young age through her grandmother, meeting King as a child and her participation in “Bloody Sunday,” a civil rights march that took place in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965.

According to history.com, Bloody Sunday was a 600-person civil rights demonstration that turned deadly when participants were attacked by white state troopers and sheriff’s deputies.

Bland said she met King at an early age.

“One of my best memories about Dr. King are the peppermints he used to have in his pocket. They’re still my favorite candy, because he always gave us a peppermint after (asking) how your day was,” she said.

Bland said the Bloody Sunday march was led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams, and the group was trying to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. There were police officers across all four lanes of the bridge and on both service roads on each side of it, she said. Lewis asked police for permission to pass.

According to Bland, police said there would be no march in Selma that day and they had two minutes to disperse.

“In less than 15 seconds, they attacked,”she said of the police.

Bland said she had never experienced violence before. She saw that the service road on each side of the bridge was full of police, some sitting, some standing and even some on horse.

She was too far back to hear or see what was happening but she didn’t need to because she knew the plan. Lewis or Williams would ask to pass, and if the police said no they would get on their knees and say a prayer. After the prayer, they would all stand up, go back to where they started and either plan a new strategy or regroup and come back, she said.

“I’m standing there waiting for the front to go down and suddenly heard gunshots and screams. I think they’re killing everybody,” Bland said.

She said the police came from all sides and were beating the marchers. People couldn’t run; they were trampled, and bones were being broken.

“The last thing that I remember on that bridge that day is seeing this horse and this lady, and I don’t know what happened, if the man on the horse hit her or if the horse just run over her … 59 years later I can still hear the sound her head made when it hit that pavement,” Bland said.

Marietta College Dean of Students and Director of Diversity and Inclusion Tony Mayle said Bland was chosen as the keynote speaker because the students met her on their fall trip and because of her life experiences.

“The story that Mrs. Bland tells, her experiences and her motivation really inspired me but also inspired the students,” Mayle said.

Marietta College holds a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event every year, Mayle said.

“We have to have education, we have to have awareness, and we have to have an opportunity for service,” he said about the event.

The event is also a way of celebrating King’s life and legacy and to celebrate his visit to Marietta College on March 2, 1967, where he gave a speech titled “The Future of Integration,” according to information provided by the college.

Mayle said it means a lot to the college to have the event, and that they have a legacy of social justice they want to continue to emphasize.

After Bland’s speech, historical tours were conducted of key sites on Marietta College’s campus related to Black history. These sites included the Ban Johnson arena, due to King’s speech there, and the Dr. Barbara Diggs Lyle House/Multicultural Center. Diggs was the first black female graduate of Marietta College.

To learn about other events scheduled at Marietta College in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, visit https://www.marietta.edu/2024-mlk-day-celebration.

Michelle Dillon can be reached at mdillon@newsandsentinel.com.