TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL)- More than a hundred people attended a special MLK Awards Ceremony Wednesday afternoon.
The event remembered the legacy of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson and led to the mass enfranchisement of minorities across the country. Many of the attendees remember that day 50 years ago like it was yesterday.
The president of the Tallahassee NAACP recalled when his grandmother first got the right to vote. "50 years ago I was 9 years old and I can remember my grandmother going to vote. And i can remember when you did not allow African Americans to vote and I have been there and actually saw them spit on my grandmother, young white boys. Then i was also there when the law passed and I saw the celebration in the community," said Dale Landry.
The ceremony honored 5 people for their service in the community, including a physician whose delivered more than 30,000 babies.
One honoree, Annie Harris, was distinguished for her involvement in the community. Harris moved from Thomasville Road to the Frenchtown neighborhood in Tallahassee, as a way to be a part of change.
"I said while I could easily live on Thomasville road or another neighborhood, but I figured I could give back and I had something to offer. So I bought a house, I bought 3 properties and made an ASH gallery. I get up everyday to make that change," said Harris.
Both Harris and Landry stress the importance of coming together as a community in order to progress as a society.
