Events are planned throughout the day in Jacksonville to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

The Mayor’s Unity Breakfast kicks off the day at 7:30 this morning at Hamilton’s.

The traditional Martin Luther King, Jr. march will still happen today but it’ll be a little later than usual. It starts at noon today at Mount Emory Baptist at 426 South Church, and proceed to the monument honoring King in Community Park.

A Martin Luther King Celebration Service will begin at 5:00 this evening at Mount Emory Church. A free meal is included.

Dr. Jeanelle Norman, president of the Decatur branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, will be the keynote speaker at this evening’s celebration. Norman served as the branch’s president for 11 years. After six years of retirement from the branch, she was elected president for a two-year term last year.

The keynote speaker for the breakfast will be John Porter. He graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1959. After spending time with the U. S. Army, Porter was medically discharged after a plane crash in 1963. He returned to Jacksonville and enrolled in Illinois College where he graduated in 1968 and spent his life volunteering in the community.