Dr. Preston Marshall
Rev. Dr. Preston Marshall claimed that the first time he met Martin Luther King Jr., he thought to himself that King was small in stature. Marshall was quickly smitten with the civil rights leader he met over a pool table while studying music in college. He picked up on the activist’s work and founded the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade and Festivities in Liberty City in 1977. It grew to become a multicultural, all-day tradition in Liberty City and Miami-Dade County’s oldest community event honoring King. President Ronald Reagan appointed Marshall to the Founding Committee to establish King’s birthday as a national holiday, a movement that became official in 1983. Born in Overtown in 1936, Marshall was a graduate of Booker T. Washington. A Miami native of Bahamian heritage, he established the GED and vocational curriculum for Hispanic and Caribbean immigrants. Marshall was a retired principal at West Miami Middle School and founding professor of Afrocentric Music Education at Florida Memorial University. His legacy as a fighter for equality and fairness lives on.