TUPELO, Miss. (AP) - Over 20 years ago, Emma Cook had a vision.
U.S. Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had done so much for Itawamba County, Cook felt strongly she needed to keep the momentum of his message going. As president of Itawamba County’s MLK Day Planning Committee, she helps preserve King’s memory and legacy both through an annual celebration of his life, but also through a scholarship program for students and a humanitarian award in honor of King’s service.
“Martin Luther King is an icon. He’s another Moses, helping people, serving others and just trying to do God’s will, and that’s what we all need to do,” Cook said. “That’s what I believe, too.”
Itawamba County’s annual celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. began in 2000. Cook became involved with the annual celebration through her church, St. Matthew Missionary Baptist Church in Fulton. Her pastor at the time, Pastor Melvin Ambrose, invited her to be a part of the church’s MLK program. During that program, he said he wanted a member to continue the event. She took on that responsibility, moving the event from the church to the Itawamba Community College auditorium, where it’s been ever since.
Each year’s celebration begins with the Unity March, where participants march from ICC to downtown Fulton and back with a police escort. After the march, they have a program with music, speakers, refreshments and fellowship. They award scholarships to several exceptional students and present a humanitarian award to a person or organization that demonstrates a willingness to serve others and be a supporter and influencer in the community.
She is especially proud of their scholarship program, which has given donations of up to $500 to about two to four students every year. Over the years, they have helped dozens of students, and many return every year for the program.
Although this year’s celebration was cancelled, the MLK Day Planning Committee still rallied to give the scholarship fund to students.
To receive the scholarship, students must meet a certain grade point average. Recipients are selected based on income, the college the student is attending, and an essay on how to break down barriers in America today.
“We have hundreds of essays that the students have written,” Cook said. “It is really from their heart and we really appreciate them for being interested in the Martin Luther King event.”
Cook hopes her own legacy is one of commitment and endurance. Born in Courtland as one of eight kids, two now deceased, she remembers attending an all Black school until the seventh grade, when she had to change to an integrated school. While she didn’t like the experience, she knew it was what she had to do.
“The South is just so behind. We’re the last group of people that don’t want to let go, but we’re going to have to let go because we’re all equal in the sight of God,” Cook said. “We just need to always remember (how far God) brought us, with the help of man pushing, praying, and not stopping.”
Cook graduated from South Panola High School, and then attended ICC in Fulton. She received a degree in childhood development. After she married her husband, Robert Cook, she made Fulton her home. The two lived there, and later Tupelo, for over three decades.
Cook is the owner of Cook’s Fashion and Accessories, a cozy boutique she originally opened in Fulton in 1997 selling a variety of family merchandise and clothing.
She remembers the business starting small, with her selling merchandise with her husband out of the back of their car for about a year before they opened the doors of their first storefront.
Cook later moved her business to the outlet mall in Tupelo, where it remained for years. Now, it’s moving again. She will host a grand opening for her new location on West Main Street on Feb. 13.
Cook sees her business, and the community event she helped create and run for two decades, as her legacy. And legacies are important.
“You can’t go forward unless you look back and see how things were,” she said.
For Cook, that’s why it was important to keep King’s spirit alive. Itawamba County’s annual MLK program is a way to preserve his teachings and encourage others to learn from them.
That’s especially important in Mississippi, she said, where there are “a lot of things going on that need to be resolved.”
That’s why, even a half-century after King’s death, his message is just as important as ever. That’s why she’s worked so hard to preserve it in her little part of the world.
“Now you can go forward and just say thank God that we have overcome some of our obstacles,” Cook said. “We’re going to keep pushing forward to make it even better.”
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