Residents call King's visit unforgettable
April 13, 1962: The day Dr. King graced Winston-Salem
CtHOfHcte Staff
The day was Apnl 13, 1962. It
was a raihcr somber day. Exactly
what one would expect in April.
Temperatures, according to the
National Weather Service, reached a
high of 56 degrees and light rain
added to the dismal day. Later on
that evening temperatures dropped
to 48 degrees, but it was still con
sidered a pretty typical day for the
spring season.
were earned to the very heavens b>
him, ' he added.
Other residents expressed simi
lar feelings of excitement alter
heanng King speak at the rally.
"It was a feeling that 1 can
never describe in words.'' said
County Commissioner Earline Par
mon and director of LIFT program.
"The thing that impressed me
the most was the closeness of the
people. The importance of having
someone in the city of that magni
tude. It was such a feeling . . . li s
unexplainablc," she said from her arrested and put in jail . She said,
office on Highland Avenue. she knew then that hc-^as a differ
~t remember thinking he was ent type of leader and shfc knew he
This historic marker sits at tho top of the Goler Metropolitan AME
Zion Church steps, commemorating Dr. King's visit to Winston
Salem in 1962.
"! remember thinking he
was the next best thing to
God. He was the ultimate
person ... the impact was
great on me. "
- By Earline Parmon
the next best thing to God. He was
the ultimate person,'' she said. Par
mon was 18 years old that day
when she got her first opportunity
to hear Dr. King. "The impact was
great on me. Everything that
evening was so impressive,11 she
said, while searching for words to
recapture the day. "I had taken part
in. some of the marches and sit-ins
sfiice I was around 16 or 17 (years
old), but this was the thing that real
ly made me know what I wanted to
do for my community. I had made
up my mind."
Parmon said she also remem
bers hearing that l5r. King had been
had in some way touched her life.
Parmon said she doesn't
remember how she heard about the
event, but she had, managed to tag
along with Velma Hopkins, a well
known community activist in Win
ston-Salem.
Hopkins, now 82 years old, is a
volunteer at 'he Exodus Enrichment
Center on 17th Street and said she
has spent more than 40 years work
ing in the community. The native of
Winston-Salem said she had \frorked
with Dr. King on many occasrbi^
"I use to follow him around. 1 went
to Washington for the big speech
and I visited Atlanta.''
Daniel W. Andrews, a member of Goler Metropolitan Choir In 1962,
remenbers that Monday night when he sang the sotoof Rocks'
Mah Soul sprirtuai to a captive audience.
While Hopkins, said she could
hardly remember the 1962 trip, she
^<iid remember the effect King had
on all who met him. "I remember he
was a down to earth man. And he
kept everyone's feet in the grass. He
wasn't a man who was big on I's
and little U's."
'*1 think Dr. King did a beauti
ful job. He was a God-sent man.
And what ever happened, he will
always be Dr. Martin Lpther King."
? ? i
But that Monday night in Win- .
ston-Salem was not at all "typical."
For ii was the day Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. ? internationally known
civil rights leader ? would speak in
front of a packed audience at Goler
Metropolitan AME Zion Church,
located on Fourth and Dunlieth
Streets, and leave the city and its
residents with memories engraved
in their hearts and minds.
According to newspaper clip
pings from the Winston-Salem
Journal and Sentinel, King had
arrived in tpwn to discuss the
power of^the ballot" and address
the Voter Registration Project Com
mittee rally scheduled for 8 p.m.
But residents who attended the
rally and recall that Monday night
said King's speech encompassed
more than the voter registration
caqopaign, it included talk of free
dom, justice and equality in Ameri
ca ? making that night one they'll
never forge L
"It was a day- that surpassed all
expectations. It was one of positive
resolve for what he had to deliver to
a people. You were exhilarated
when you heard the man," said
Daniel W. Andrews Jr. of D.W. ?
Andrews Jr. & Sons Plumbing Ser
vices on Excelsior Street.
Andrews, who was 38 years
old at the time of King's visit, said
King's presence in the city, especial
ly during the 1960's, really conjured
up a closeness in the^lack commu
nity. "It was just an eye-awakening
experience," he said.
Andrews, a member of Goler
Metropolitan AME Zion Church,
was also a choir member at the time
of King's visit.
"I shall never forget that day.
We sang an arranged spiritual of
Rocka' Mah Soul.' I sang the solo,"
hefsaid, as he^CeTlowed out a few
verses of the spiritual. Andrews said
King's speech centered around talks
of peaceful demonstrations, the
closeness of Christians and true
understanding of what the fight for
civil rights was really about "It was
so forceful."
As president of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference
and the nation's leading advocate of
nonviolent protests against racial
discrimination, King's speech
focused on the right to vote as part
of the voter registration project co
sponsored by the local chapter of
the NAACP and the Congress of
Racial Equality.
Andrews said he also recalled
the massive number of people that
* packed the church that day. "It was
a jammed packed crowd." The
experience, Andrews admits, was
something Til never forget"
"He was an international leader.
And his dream is a dream that's
continuing to live on. Look at Rus
sia and South Africa, they're also
saying 'We shall overcome.' He's
touched other people all over the
world and other philosophies have
been bom out of what he said. The
message still rings. He said he saw
over into the promise land, ai>d I
truly believe he did. The man had
an effect on the spiritual pod. You
illustration by r J ?crtbble*
Martin Luther King, Jr. s dream begins with all of us.
And Pepsi shares the celebration of that dream.
PEPSI