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The annual Martin Luther King Jr. holiday will be celebrated on Monday, Jan. 18.

City halls will be closed in West Point, Lanett and Valley, and the local chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. will be hosting their annual Unity Day of Prayer.

In past years, a local church has hosted a large gathering on Unity Day. That won’t be the case this year. Because of COVID-19, it will be taking place as a virtual event. People can watch the program live on Facebook and YouTube.

There will be special guests, prayers and songs of praise. This year’s theme will be ‘In These Troubled Times, We Pray for Healing as We Keep Moving Forward!”

The online program will get underway at 9 a.m. EST (8 Central time).

AKA’s Lambda Zeta Omega Chapter of Lanett is the host organization.

Alpha Kappa Alpha is the nation’s first historically African American Greek-lettered sorority. It was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on January 15, 1908. The sorority has five basic tenets: (1) to cultivate and encourage high scholastic and ethical standards, (2) to promote unity and friendship among college women, (3) to study and help alleviate problems affecting girls and women in order to improve their social stature, (4) to maintain a progressive interest in college life and (5) to be of service to all mankind.

AKA’s current members and alumnae are noted for the pink and green colors they wear to AKA events. They should be especially happy on this MLK holiday. One of their own alumnae will be inaugurated as vice president of the United States on Wednesday, January 20th. Kamala Harris was an AKA while an undergraduate at Howard University. She graduated there in 1986 and returned to her home state of California, where she attended the prestigious Hastings School of Law at the University of California. She earned her Juris doctorate in 1989 and was admitted to the California Bar the next year. In 2010, she became the first African-American woman elected attorney general in California and was later elected to the U.S. Senate.