September 19, 2024
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McHenry County College to host event honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

The event is organized by the McHenry County Juneteenth Organization

By Michelle Meyer
FILE - In this 1960 file photo, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks in Atlanta. The estate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has reached an agreement with HarperCollins Publishers for rights to his archive. HarperCollins released King's first book more than 60 years ago. The King Estate had been publishing books since 2009 with the Beacon Press. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this 1960 file photo, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks in Atlanta. The estate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has reached an agreement with HarperCollins Publishers for rights to his archive. HarperCollins released King's first book more than 60 years ago. The King Estate had been publishing books since 2009 with the Beacon Press. (AP Photo, File) (AP)

The committee that brought the first Juneteenth celebration to McHenry County will be hosting an event to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Wednesday at McHenry County College in Crystal Lake.

The free event, which will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Luecht Auditorium at MCC, will be hosted by Cary United Methodist Church lead pastor the Rev. Norval Brown.

A screening of the documentary “How Martin Luther King Jr. Changed the World” will be played, followed by a discussion.

“His work was and still is important, for there are those in our nation and in other nations who continue to live under a rod of oppression,” Brown said in a news release. “The fluidity of time calls for the writing of a new narrative.”

The McHenry County Juneteenth Organization has nine members, including McHenry County Board members Gloria Van Hof, Pamela Althoff and Lou Ness.

The organization identifies as nonpartisan and not a political group, Van Hof said. It’s a group that aims for the community to get together and create fairness, she said.

Van Hof said she was inspired to create an event honoring King since there aren’t many in the area, much like what she noticed with Juneteenth celebrations.

“It’s a wonderful time to get together and celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, and see where we are and how we can promote that legacy in the county,” she said.

King’s vision for unity is needed now more than ever with the recent migrant drop-offs in the area, Van Hof said. She said she noticed the community came out to donate winter clothes to asylum-seekers who were unexpectedly dropped off Saturday in Woodstock.

“Many were dropped off in summer clothing,” she said. “All these people came together, just like that.”

The committee plans on hosting another Juneteenth festival this year after it hosted the first celebration of its kind in McHenry County in Woodstock. The organization also plans on hosting a free Black History Month program on Feb. 19 at MCC.

“As an organization, we are not going to be doing programs all the time,” Van Hof said. “But this first year, we thought it would be good to do something for Black History [Month] and MLK [Day].”

She said her goal for the event is to remind the community to work together and “move forward, not backward.”

“It will be a great way for us to prepare for the work ahead,” Van Hof said.

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