YWCA Greater Charleston Announces 2022 MLK Celebration Theme and Parade Marshal

Press Release

YWCA Greater Charleston’s signature MLK Day Parade, part of its annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration, the largest and longest-running event of its kind in South Carolina, will be headlined by Ms. Christine O. Jackson (right).

The multi-day tribute’s theme will be “We Persist: Paving the Path to Justice.”

“More than 50 themes were submitted for our 50^th Annual MLK Celebration,” says LaVanda Brown, executive director of YWCA Greater Charleston. “It was a difficult task to choose just one. We chose it because it continues to charge us with the responsibility to turn Dr. King’s dream into action. And while we have persisted for 50 years to honor his legacy, it reminds us that we must continue to persist in order to pave the way to racial and social justice, which are still urgently needed today.”

2022 MLK Day Parade

Traditionally the penultimate event of the annual MLK Celebration, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Parade will cap off the Celebration this year. Due to COVID, it will be a live pre-recorded parade, with the traditional media stand, live commentary by TV anchors, and floats, walking groups, motorcycles, bands and the like gathering downtown to line up following the tradition of previous years. The pre-recorded parade will be televised by WCBD News 2 at noon on MLK Day, Monday, January 17.

To commemorate the  50^th year of the Celebration, Ms. Jackson, executive director emeritus of YWCA Greater Charleston, will serve as parade marshal.

Ms. Jackson led the nonprofit for three decades, taking the reins during a pivotal time for Charleston and the nation: throughout the Civil Rights Movement. Her first year was 1966, two years after the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act and just one year after the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

She was the first cousin of Coretta Scott King, wife of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Together with YWCA Greater Charleston’s members and board at the time, the two marched in the historic 1969 MUSC hospital strike. In addition to spearheading many highly effective programs and events designed to empower women and eliminate racism, in 1972, Ms. Jackson founded the annual MLK Celebration, one of the first MLK tributes in America. Over the years she added more events to the celebration, beginning with the annual MLK Ecumenical Service and ending with the annual MLK Business & Professional Breakfast (now called the MLK Summit) in 2000.

Organizations can sign up now to sponsor the 2022 MLK Celebration online at ywcagc.org/mlk or by emailing johnb@ywca-charlestonsc.org.

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