Deadline Wednesday for tickets to annual Martin Luther King Jr. banquet

The daughter of one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s right-hand leaders will be the guest speaker at Lawton’s annual celebration banquet Jan. 20.

Donzaleigh Abernathy will speak at the 41st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Banquet, which begins at 6:30 p.m. in the McCasland Ballroom of the McMahon Centennial Complex at Cameron University, 2800 W. Gore. Her topic will be: The Timeless Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Its Impact Today.

Tickets are $50 for adults and $28 for students. Because seating is limited this year, the deadline for purchase is Wednesday, by contacting Cameron Campus Ministry at (580) 678-5269 or www.ccmcenter.org.

Abernathy also will be featured at a Q&A panel discussion at 2 p.m. Jan. 20 in Cynthia S. Ross Hall of Cameron University. The event is free and open to the public.

Abernathy is the youngest daughter of American Civil Rights Movement co-founder Rev. Ralph David Abernathy and his wife Mrs. Juanita Jones Abernathy. She was born in the midst of the Civil Rights movement, as her father and his best friend King established the nonviolent social movement which changed the course of American history. Her life began with the bombing of her parents’ home and her father’s First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

Abernathy and her siblings witnessed and participated in all the major Civil Rights movements and marches, including the Freedom Riders, the March on Washington, the Selma to Montgomery March for the right to vote, and the Chicago Housing Demonstrations. The Abernathy and King children integrated Spring Street Elementary School, which led to mass integration of schools in the South in 1965.

In 2004, Abernathy wrote “Partners to History, Martin Luther King, Ralph David Abernathy and the Civil Rights Movement,” which was nominated as one of the Best Books for Young Adults by the American Library Association. She was a contributing author to the Smithsonian Institute’s book “In the Spirit of Martin.”