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The Safe Haven Center will hold a commemoration on April 4 to recognize the 56th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination at the footsteps of Selma City Hall.  

The event starts at 12:30 p.m. and ends at 2:30 p.m. Black and white balloons will be released in King’s memory.

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, by James Earl Ray. King’s death marked the end of the Civil Rights Era that began in the 1950s. King led the “Bloody Sunday” march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, leading to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“King’s life transformed the United States, especially the city of Selma,” Safe Haven Pastor the Rev. Michael Bowen Sr. said. “It is in the pursuit of justice that we remember him and gun violence victims.”

Kalim Muhammad said among the guest speakers scheduled to attend include Catherine, activist and author of Freedom Baby; Dr. Rev. Evelyn Mannz, footsoldier and activist from Atlanta; and Dr. Knight, activist and founder of Footsoldiers of America.

Civil Rights Historian Dr. Bernard Lafayette said during the Bridge Crossing Jubilee last month he was in Washington, D.C. when King was killed.