FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Kathy Smith still remembers when the third Monday of every January became a federal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1986.
Smith, 76, also remembers when she attended her first MLK Day parade. It’s a tradition for her, and she was there with her great-granddaughter on Monday in Fort Lauderdale.
“It means a great deal for me to be here because of what the struggle was all about. I lived through it. It was not always the way that it is now. I remember when there were only two beaches,” Smith said.
Debra Williams and Elijah Hankerson were among the thousands who lined up to watch the tribute. Both said they were there to celebrate change. Smith said more change is needed.
“Now we have more liberties than we have ever had, and yet we are still in struggle,” Smith said.
The parade started at Northwest Fifth Avenue and Sistrunk Boulevard and it ended with a festival at Joseph C. Carter Park, at 1450 West Sunrise Boulevard.
The boulevard is named after Dr. James Franklin Sistrunk, who moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1922 and became the area’s first Black doctor.
“He was actually the doctor that treated and cared for so many in the Black community at that time,” said Vice Mayor Pam Beasley-Pittman, the first Black woman to serve as a Fort Lauderdale commissioner.
Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony and Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis were also among the elected officials who participated in the parade.
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