Earlier this week leaders in the movement to end mass incarceration gathered in Atlanta to share lessons learned and organize. Partners from across the country were graciously hosted by the city of Atlanta. Community leader and Atlanta resident, Marilynn Winn, welcomed us with this personal testimony.

These were her remarks.

“Welcome to the ATL and to Atlanta’s exciting history. Atlanta’s history actually began in 1821 when the Creek Indians were forced off the land that is now called Metro Atlanta.

Atlanta has much history to talk about from 1821 until 2014 – When we opened The National Center for Civil and Human Rights last year.

I would like to begin this history tour from 1929. The birth of Michael King who we all know as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia January 15, 1929, 86 years ago. I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia in 1951.  And have lived the majority of my life here on and off. I was born in the Old Fourth Ward Community,  a couple of miles from our famous civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and I attended David T. Howard High School which is one block from the home Dr. King was born in at 449 Auburn Ave.

I would like to personally give thanks to Dr. King, the movement and the legacy he began in 1954. Years before I was born and years I didn’t understand and the work he left us with in April of 1968 to continue. I watched Dr. King from when I was a kid first hand standing in picket lines at Rich’s and Woolworth Department Stores with my mother and glued to our television set with my family watching every move Dr. King and other civil rights leaders made. The work Dr. King did paved the way for our freedom and gave us the courage to continue to do the work we are doing today. Still working to end discrimination of all kinds all over our nation in a larger bolder collective movement organizing in solidarity. This is what brings us all together today.

1936 – Techwood Homes was the first public housing project in the United States located in Atlanta, Georgia.  Techwood was intended to eliminate the slums that the poor had been living in, but eventually became one itself. Techwood was reserved for whites only until 1968, with an all-black counterpart at the University Homes project, where I lived as a young teen. (built 1938). Techwood Homes and all other projects were demolished in 1996 before the 1996 Summer Olympics. Residents were relocated to other areas, and given Section 8 vouchers to pay part of the rent. Many moved back many became homeless because of new rules and regulations. You had to check the box now, “Have you been arrested or convicted of a felony?”

1957 – SCLC was formed by Dr. King. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is an African-American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The SCLC had a large role in the American Civil Rights Movement.

1959 – Trolleybuses, buses and public library was desegregated by Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement.

1960 – The boycott of Rich’s Famous Magnolia Cafeteria.  Although possessing a reputation for being more tolerant toward African American customers than many other stores in the South, Rich’s still found itself the target of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Local African American college students staged sit-ins at the store, in large part because of its prominence in the community. Well-known civil rights activist and sit-in participant Julian Bond later noted that “if Rich’s went, so would everybody else,” meaning that other stores would desegregate if Rich’s did. The students targeted the Magnolia Room, Rich’s segregated restaurant. In October 1960, several students, along with Martin Luther King Jr., were arrested while conducting a sit-in at the Magnolia Room. A boycott of the store followed the arrests, and by the fall of 1961, Rich’s began to desegregate.

1991 – McCleskey v. Kemp said racial bias in the criminal justice system was ok. One of the most publicized Supreme Court cases in the history of Atlanta was the case of Warren McCleskey. Mc Cleskey was a friend of mind that was accused of killing a white police officer in an attempted robbery. Evidence indicated that McCleskey was not the killer. But because he was black and the officer was white McCleskey was put to death September 25, 1991. This was one of the most disastrous cases in US history racial justice in the criminal justice system.

1946 – 176 Peachtree Street. The Winecoff Hotel fire of December 7, 1946 was the deadliest hotel fire in United States history, killing 119 hotel occupants, including the hotel’s owners. The hotel was rebuilt and is now where we are today the Ellis Hotel.

Again this is why we are together today to continue the work of our leader Dr. King.”

On Monday, we joined the nation in observing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We celebrate his vision for a more just society and continue to organize for the rights of all our brothers and sisters to be seen as equals – to be recognized for their humanity.

Marilyn Winn is the lead organizer with Women on the Rise. Marilynn had initiated the Ban the Box campaign in Atlanta when she was an organizer with 9to5. As formerly incarcerated, she saw how the box personally kept her out of work and organized to pass Ban the Box legislation in the city of Atlanta. The fight continues to take this victory to the state level.