The 16th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Remembrance will pay tribute to Black History Month with a special program and parade Sunday, Jan. 19, in Welsh.

“This day should be acknowledged and celebrated by people period, not just people of color, so the day in question is made the national event it is,” organizer Eddie “Bruiser” Achan said.

This annual celebration, hosted by the Bethune and Richmond Parks Ltd., will serve as a gateway to Black History Month highlighting significant events in the history of African Americans, including the 60th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Ala.

“We began by acknowledging an annual event called Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala,” Achan said. “One March 7, 1965, hundreds of civil rights activists, in a peaceful protest marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The activists were protesting the denial of voting rights for African Americans, as well as the murder of 26-year-old activist Jimmie Lee Jackson, who had been fatally shot in the stomach by police during a peaceful protest just days before.”

The event is just one of many events, historians, people, places and things that follow the third Monday in January with the Black History Month celebration in February.

MLK Day and Black History Month should both be considered forms of American history, Achan said.

The celebration will begin at 10:30 a.m. Sunday with a program at Jones United Methodist Church, at the corner of North King and Welsh Street, in Welsh.

A parade will be held at 1 p.m. beginning and ending at Bethune Park.

Cars, trucks, trailers, bicycles, golf carts, side by sides and horses are invited to participate in the parade. There is no entry fee or registration for the parade.

The parade will begin in Bethune Park, travel west on MLK, north on Carter Street, west on Millard Street, south on Third Street, east on Welsh Street, south on Sarah Street, east on South Street, north on Elm Street then west on MLK Street returning to Bethune Park.

Festivities continue following the parade with brown bag lunches to be given away at Richmond Park, as long as supplies last.

All events are free and open to the public.

For more information contact Achan at 337-370-9988.