A group of young volunteers spent the morning remembering Dr. Martin Luther King alongside a group of elderly New Yorkers, who experienced segregation and the Civil Rights movement firsthand. NY1's Lindsey Christ filed this report.
Their stories began decades ago all across the country. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, residents of the Isabella nursing home came together to share some of those memories.
Like 102-year-old Naomi Headly, who described growing-up in Virginia before moving north as part of the Great Migration, into the Harlem Renaissance.
"We'd sit on the back of the bus and when you'd go to white people's houses, you know, we had to go through the back," Headly recalled.
Andetrie Smith experienced similar discrimination as a child in Texas.
"Whenever I was really thirsty and nobody was looking, my mother, she would give me whatever water fountain was near. And if it was the white fountain, she would tell me, 'This is the law, but it's wrong,'" Smith said.
While in seminary school, the Rev. Joseph D. Jenkins Jr. became involved in desegregating the Boston school system.
"They were throwing rocks, insults and we had t walk the kids to school," Jenkins said.
Listening to all this was a group of AmeriCorps volunteers. While the young volunteers say they grew up learning about segregation, civil rights and Dr. King's legacy, hearing the residents' stories about actually living through that era made for a particularly poignant celebration.
"When you can actually talk to someone who has lived that experience and feel what they feel, hear their specific story, it really sits with you and makes you realize you why we are doing this work," said AmeriCorps Program Director for the Children's Aid Society Sharifa Shorter.
That work includes spending the long weekend doing community service, which they believe is in line with King's values.
"He always said, what are you doing for others? What skill, what talent do you have that you can give back and bring another person up?" Shorter said.
As for advice, several of the residents urged their young visitors to continue to fight for equality.
"Nothing has changed that much. You still have a lot of racism," said Jenkins.