Martin Luther King Jr. Day: How Central Florida is celebrating his legacy

ORLANDO, Fla. - Today, we honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Events are happening across Central Florida to honor the civil rights leader, including at Tinker Field where Dr. King spoke during his only trip to Orlando. There is a statue of the reverend to honor him. 

American civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) addresses a crowd at the March On Washington D.C, 28th August 1963. (Photo by CNP/Getty Images)

Dr. King made a speech at the pitcher’s mound on March 6, 1964. At the time, his visit got very little attention, but in 2018 when city leaders unveiled the Tinker Field History Plaza, they also highlighted its civil rights history by remembering Dr. Kings’s only public speech in The City Beautiful.

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The mayor’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission is also holding their annual Arthur "Pappy" Kennedy Prayer Breakfast on Monday virtually because of COVID. Pappy Kennedy was Orlando’s first African American city council member. 

Martin Luther King Jr., gives his "I Have a Dream" speech to a crowd before the Lincoln Memorial during the Freedom March in Washington, DC, on August 28, 1963. The widely quoted speech became one of his most famous.

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: People attend the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade on January 20, 2020 in Washington, DC, United States on January 20, 2020. (Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The commission is also set to clean up Lake Fran and the surrounding areas. They say it is to promote Dr. King’s legacy of service. 

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