MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Hundreds of people gathered at Mason Temple in Memphis on Tuesday night, just as they did 50 years ago.
Inside the darkened church was silence as an audio recording of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s last speech, given in the same building, was played.
Two of King's children, Bernice and Martin III, addressed the crowd from the very pulpit where their father spoke.
"It is time to repent, it is time for a change and correction. We must turn in another way," said Bernice King. "One day we'll all be able to get to the Promised Land."
"Dad told us it only takes a few good women and men to make a change; we've come much too far from where we started," Martin King III said.
Houston native and journalist Roland Martin said the true challenge to uphold and advance King's legacy is before us right now.
"What will they say about us 50 years from now? Will they still be talking about what happened in the 60s? Or will folks talk about what happened in 2020?" Martin King III said.
Wednesday is a day of remembrance and there will be events all day long at the National Civil Rights Museum, which sits on the grounds of the Lorraine Motel where King was assassinated.
Organizers expecting thousands of people to attend.