The Day of Service at the Robert “Bob” Hicks House Civil Rights Museum began Monday in the chill of the morning at 8 a.m. when the temperatures in Bogalusa had not yet gotten well beyond the reached the freezing level of 32 degrees. And still, more than a handful had arrived ready to tackle the clean up and more.
Those intrepid early risers included current Bogalusa City Council President Gloria Kates, her husband Thomas, a couple of high school students, one of them from BHS and one from Metairie Park Country Day, Chaplains David and Grace Ziegler, and a few more volunteers.
Executive Director of the Robert “Bob” Hicks Foundation Barbara Hicks-Collins said that King, “gave and was one of those who taught people to give back.”
“And though he never came to Bogalusa, his philosophy of questioning and equality runs right through all of us who were in the Civil Rights Movement here,” Hicks- Collins continued.
She said her initial goal is to open the parent’s, the girl’s room, and the living room of the Hicks House and to fill them with artifacts of the Civil Rights era, and that she is currently looking for a museum consultant.
Hicks-Collins also said Washington Parish Randy “Country” Seal had stopped by to express his support. She also said her refreshments were provided by the Bogalusa Wendys and Little Caesars.
By the time the Bogalusa Voter’s League March along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive from the former site of the Voter’s League building to Greater Ebenezer Baptist Church, where there was to be a culminating program, kicked off at 1 p.m. the weather was much warmer, but participants were walking or pedaling for well more than a mile.
When asked about this year’s participation, President Marvin Austin said, “Sometimes it’s up and sometimes it’s down, and we’re all getting older.” But he did add that there would be a program at the end of the march.
Local Civil Rights activist Gayle Jenkins was honored having the name of the Central School Auditorium changed to Gayle Jenkins Memorial Auditorium. Her daughter, Willie E. Breaux, served as “Grand Madam,” and Rev. Marvin Austin Jr. was master of ceremony.