By Chris Barber 
Contributing Writer

Martin Luther King Day keynote speaker Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham told her audience at Lincoln University’s Wellness Center that the quest for freedom never stops, even as historians tout significant moments of achievement.

An estimated 200 people, including volunteers, students and civil rights advocates gathered on Monday to mark the birthday holiday of the late, prominent civil rights leader who lived from 1929 to 1968. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

Citing historically recognized events in which Black heroes rose to overcome their slavery, bondage and discrimination, Higginbotham said while progress has been made, the work is not done without constant courage and suffering.

“History manifests itself in conflicts,” she said, adding that the character of pursuing freedom shifts in time.

She gave four points of advice to her audience: Don’t patronize or spend money on racist companies or stores; trust the power of grass roots actions; recognize that there are varieties of protests; and always push for voting rights.

She spoke frequently of her own grandfather, Rev. Walter Henderson Brooks, a former slave who entered Lincoln in 1866 and received his degree in 1872. Brooks was an orator, poet, journalist and reformer, as well has a scholar of Black Baptist Church history.

Higginbotham is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and African and African America Studies at Harvard University. She has received numerous awards, most notably the 2014 National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama for “illuminating the African American Journey.”

The holiday event was hosted by the Martin Luther King CommUnity of the Kennett Area, and Lincoln University President Benda Allen offered her welcome to the guests as well, echoing the theme, “We still have a dream.”

Several individuals including Lincoln students and Kennett Square Mayor Matt Fetick presented quotes from King’s speeches.

Fetick added he first attended a King breakfast event in 2004.

“I never really thought about racial justice before that,” he said.

He also praised the late Mabel Thompson for initiating the event in 2001. He said she had a vision of the community joined as one regardless of race, religion or gender.

Thompson was the founder who generated the word “community” into the message “commUNITY.

The MLK Day event also featured a brunch of chicken and waffles, which the guests ate while they were entertained by the Lincoln University choruses and sang along with songs led by MLK CommUNITY President Carol Black.

Kennett Square residents Marc and Susan Pevar presented a song called, “Top of the Mountain.” Marc said he did not want to take credit for the song because it came to him miraculously in a dream.

The breakfast event concluded with the singing and holding of hands to “We Shall Overcome.”

Black informed the audience that next  year’s event will be held at Kennett High School. She said she would also like to see it take place sometime in Unionville.

She said Unionville High School would be an appropriate place for a Martin Luther King statue because he once gave a speech there.