Sunday’s MLK Gospel Fest caps USC’s tribute to civil rights leader

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be remembered with a musical tribute Sunday at the Koger Center for the Arts.

The MLK Gospel Fest 2016 features songs and words that honor King’s work and legacy. It’s one of several events held at the University of South Carolina this past week to celebrate MLK Day.

The musical tribute is a way for King to be “remembered through the songs of freedom as we promote and ensure equality and justice for all,” said Bobby D. Gist, executive assistant to the president for Equal Opportunity Programs at USC.

The festival will feature the Brookland Baptist Gospel Choir, the Rev. Matthew Mickens & The Highway Travelers, and Pastor Shawn Jones and the Believers, an all-male gospel quartet from Rockford, Ala., that has performed at gospel festivals nationally since 2010.

The Rev. Chris Leevy Johnson, pastor of the Brookland Northeast Baptist Church and a USC graduate, will speak, offering reflections on King and his legacy.

The concert begins at 6 p.m. at the Koger Center, 1051 Greene St.

Tickets to the MLK Gospel Festival are $10 per person and $8 for students and are available at the Koger Center box office.

Lezlie Patterson, Special to The State

This story was originally published January 16, 2016 at 11:30 AM.