As a 5 year old child in the segregated South of the 50’s, Brown remembers attending the distinguished annual St. Petersburg Festival of States Parade and seeing his mother, Maggie Brown, on the Ambassadors float, as their queen waving to the crowds. The floats and marching bands stayed with him for years, especially the impact of how Black folk literally followed the local colored school bands, Gibbs High School and 16th Street Jr. High School, down the parade route. Brown’s brother, Darryl, played the drums and baritone in the band at 16th Street Jr. High School under Samuel Robinson, but his mother, who was the bookkeeper at Gibbs High School, could not afford the costs of purchasing uniforms and instruments for two sons. A lover of music and the saxophone, Brown found refuge in his prized theme song Mercy, Mercy, Mercy by Cannonball Adderley. Brown was somewhat crushed from the reality that he and his brother would not be able to replicate the family duo sensation of Nat and Cannonball Adderley. However, Brown would practice the drum cadences of FAMU and follow the bands in 7th and 8th grade and later follow them under Al Downing and Reynold Davis at Gibbs High School. So impressed with Brown’s diligence and devotion to music, Reynold Davis gave Brown his own personal saxophone to take to college where he could continue to pursue his interest.

While in college Brown received multiple threats on his life. As Chairman of the Black History Week Committee Brown and others became targets of those who were racially insensitive and prejudiced against Black students on campus. Crosses with a picture of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. nailed to it were burned in front of his dormitory room and while attending worship service one day his room was desecrated. On another occasion homemade bombs made by the sons of two ministers exploded the door to a dormitory room where Brown was planning activities for Black History Week. His family called in the FBI. Upon completion of his sophomore year, the Theology Major was transferred out of harms way from the predominantly white Christian College near the Boston area to Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia where Brown changed his major to Afro American Studies.

Brown was the first graduate from a southern university (Clark College, Atlanta, GA 1972) to earn a B.A. degree in Afro American Studies. This new department and degree program was first introduced and instituted in the South at Morehouse College under Dr. Tobe Johnson in 1970 for all six colleges that made up the Atlanta University Center. The nucleus of this historic educational endeavor comprised the likes of such distinguished Academic Hall of Fame professors as: Jacksonville, Florida’s native son, Dr. Robert Brisbane (1913-1998), Ph.D. in Political Science, Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University’s Class of 1948, joined Morehouse College in 1949, organized the Morehouse College Political Science Department and chaired it from 1965-1985 as its political philosopher, political historian and social activist for half a century (1949-1998) and author of the Black Vanguard: Origins of Negro Social Revolution, 1900-1960; the legendary Dr. Wendell “Doc” Phillip Whalum, Ph.D. (1931-1987), native of Memphis, TN, graduate of the Morehouse class of 1952, classmate of Martin Luther King, Jr. of the class of 1948, foremost authority of Afro American Music, Chairman for 34 years (1953-1987) of Morehouse College Music Department and the 2nd Director of the internationally famous Morehouse College Glee Club; Dr. Luther Benjamin Weems, Jr. Ph.D. (1968) in Clinical Psychology from the University of Michigan, native of Tallahassee, FL, now Dr. Na’im Akbar, ascended to chairman and instituted the first Psychology Department at Morehouse College in 1970 two years after joining the Morehouse faculty, elected president in 1987 of the Association of Black Psychologist and the recipient of every award possible from the Association, is acclaimed by Essence Magazine as “one of the world’s preeminent psychologists and a pioneer in the development of an African-centered approach in modern psychology; Dr. Alton Hornsby, Jr., Ph.D. in History from the University of Texas (Austin), a Fuller E. Callaway Professor of History at Morehouse College, for 25 years (between 1976 and 2001), he edited the Journal of Negro History, served as president of the Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists and the Southern Conference on African American Studies and was a pure history who kept Brown, for an eternity, in the “stacks” and “the historic “Slaughter Collection” at Atlanta University’s Trevor Arnett Library” writing 97 Bibliographical Essay Summary papers in one semester; Dr. George Napper, Ph.D. from UCLA in the Sociology Department at Spelman College, former Chief of Police and Commissioner of Public Safety of Atlanta, GA. These educators were key in helping to institutionalize this Degree for all students in the Atlanta University Center, known as the “Intellectual Oasis of the South”. To walk the halls and sit in the classrooms that Dr. King sat in and where Dr. W.E.B. Dubois taught in Sale Hall on the campus of Atlanta University was indeed a profoundly rich and rewarding experience for Brown. Brown also had a friend in Dr. Vivian Henderson (1923-1976), Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Iowa and president of Clark College.

Snatched from the “Intellectual Oasis of the South” in the summer of 1972, by a former Morehouse student and FAMU graduate, Dr. Paul Mohr, Sr., Ed. D. from Oklahoma State University, former Vice President at Norfolk State University, former president of Talladega College, then Dean of the School of Education at FAMU Graduate School recruited Brown to serve as “Assistant to the Dean of the School of Education” on a graduate assistantship where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a M.ED. in four quarters in 1973. Dean Mohr’s goal was to follow up on what the nucleus at Morehouse started and have Brown establish the first Afro American Development Center at FAMU, head the Carnegie Multiracial Student Exchange Program and be the first southern graduate with a degree in Afro American Studies to teach at FAMU or a southern university. It was here that Brown would go down to the “Patch” where the band practiced and devote intensive study of the “High Stepping Art Form” of the world famous “Marching 100”.

As a result of Brown’s extensive studies under these professors he resolved that the Marching Bands of historically Black colleges and universities had replaced the role of the college choirs like the Fisk University Jubilee Singers, the choirs of Bethune Cookman, Howard, Tuskegee and other universities as the African American universities’, “Ambassadors of Good Will”. The alumni and entire communities now follow these bands and hold them in the highest esteem. The university marching band now hails as the greatest recruitment tool and fund raiser for African American universities. These high stepping performing bands now and historically command everyone’s attention during the halftime show of every university football game or Classic. People get to their seats and become quiet for the famous “5th Quarter”. Amazingly the spectators pan out after witnessing the “Art Form of the High Steppers” only manifested in the Battle of the Bands. This is one of America’s greatest musical contributions to world civilization that is followed and held in highest esteem by such musical icons as Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino, Nat King Cole, Nancy Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Quinton Marsalis, and Julian “Cannonball” Adderley and Nate Adderley who were former band members in the Florida A&M University “Marching 100”.

This student of history was blessed with a 2 a.m. heavenly inspired Vision from God, some 72 hours after the burial of his grandmother. He was shown a miraculous panoramic view of a parade, with floats and fanfare, in the tradition of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, in which esteemed African American university bands from around the nation march down streets in honor of Dr. King.

While traditional Civil Rights leaders and former lieutenants of Dr. King were entrenched in commemorating Dr. King with the traditional civil rights marches on his birthday, Brown stepped out on faith in the face of doubt and ridicule. Brown was troubled by the all encompassing question of “how will those who never marched with Dr. King, lived during his era, or who constitute the millions of children of generations yet unborn, ever come to know him and understand his sacrifice?” This ignited the need for Brown to move immediately to fulfill Dr. King’s Dream. Brown executes God’s Vision given to him and establishes a traditional national parade named in honor of Dr. King Martin Luther King, Jr. in salute and tribute to his hero and mentor. Prior to this, the concept of a traditional MLK parade was non-existent in America.

Brown’s vision was designed to expose, teach and instill in generations of young elementary, middle and high school students an appreciation of who Dr. King was and his significance to them. The only way to reach the youth to memorialize King was to provide a way for them to connect to his name and spirit. Brown’s premise was “To reach youth, you must reach them where they are, not in the skies where adults wish for them to aspire. In 1985, the youth of America could not be separated from their boom boxes and their music. Brown simply replaced the boom boxes with the African American University bands.

This strategic move by Brown reflects another of the valuable lessons he learned as a student under Dr. Wendell Phillip Whalum in the Afro American Studies program. “Music is never music for music sake. It is always reflective of the experience or experiences through which Blacks have gone and are still going through.” Just as the Negro Spiritual, Blues, Jazz and Gospel music was indicative of this unique application of music to life’s experiences, so it is with the music and art form of the (HBCU) Historical Black Colleges and Universities Marching Bands.

Brown’s idea was to utilize the sophisticated orchestrations of marching music composed by master university band directors and employ the “Art form of High Stepping Marching Style” to cover the entire Federal King Birthday celebration, making this its center and foundation. The intrinsic masterful musical dynamics of master band directors, like Dr. William Foster at FAMU, Dr. Issac Greggs at Southern University, Dr. Graves at Tennessee State University, Prof. Jimmy Williams and Dr. Hodge at North Carolina A & T University, Professor Cleophus Johnson at Morris Brown College and others now replaced the boom boxes and took the minds of children to a higher level. When university bands took to the streets and stadiums in a parade and band festival named after Dr. King, every time the Drum Majors of every university and high school band raised their feet and planted them in the streets in their famous, spirited, unique high- stepping performance routines, little children at the Battle of the Bands and at the MLK Parade, began to speak and proudly proclaim, unlike ever before, that they knew who Martin Luther King, Jr. was – HE’s THE DRUM MAJOR FOR JUSTICE WHO DIED FOR US! HE’s THE DRUM MAJOR THAT DRUM MAJORS FROM BLACK UNIVERSITY BANDS MARCHED TO IN THE MLK PARADE, YESTERDAY.

This was a 360% turn around from January of 1985, when Brown took one of the lieutenants of Dr. King into an elementary school and not one Black child could answer the question they asked of them, “Who was Dr. King”? The face of Dr. King’s lieutenant spoke volumes as tears crystallized in his eyes. Two white children answered the question correctly. Brown remained silent as he read the dejection on his face. Had someone dropped the baton and forgot to pass on Dr. King’s legacy to the children of America? In one year, God had answered this void and now nothing but tears of joy crystallized on the faces of those who understood the importance of a Martin Luther King, Jr. To see the same children jumping for joy raising their hands and shouting their answers before they heard the question and pronounce in a glorious melody of a choir that they knew who Dr. King really was, because they attended a traditional parade in his honor, is a tribute and testimony to God’s Divine Intervention through a Vision.

In academic practicum, the National Martin Luther King, Jr. Drum Major for Justice Parade rises far above being “Music for Music Sake” but is the largest public issue speech movement in America about the legacy of “the single most important man, with the single most important message, in the single most violent century of our nations history; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” It is not only imperative but also appropriate that the HBCU Marching Bands lead the charge in institutionalizing monumental commemorative celebrations in Dr. King’s honor. Dr. King represents the most respected, distinguished, popular and renowned graduate of all the HBCUs’.

People of every ethnic, cultural, religious and racial derivation have made the Annual MLK Drum Major for Justice Pilgrimage to St. Petersburg, Florida for the last 22 years. They come and line both sides of “Central Avenue” in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida as bands march to the Gulf of Mexico and Tampa Bay. Brown purposely builds the symbolism into the parade route. He likens Mahatma Gandhi’s march for freedom from British rule to the Indian Ocean to the MLK parade of bands, floats and …participants that annually traverse to the Gulf of Mexico and the downtown Spa Beach where riots once erupted to stop Blacks from integrating the beaches. Central Avenue, a southern street that once symbolized the rigid segregation of the races by law, has now been transformed into a national stage for sending the signal to every American and World citizens of peace that the teachings of King’s nonviolence strategies and philosophy will never be forgotten.

At Brown’s beseeching, in January 1991, ACLU Pinellas County’s Chairman, Dr. Raymond Arsenault, Co-Chair of the ACLU Legal Panel, Atty. Katherine Lancaster, Atty. Mark Brown, expert Professor of Constitutional Law and Atty. Michael Finch, Professor of Civil Rights Law at Stetson University College of Law, formed the legal team that secured Central Avenue as the route of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. national parade and protected the parade from Jim Crow treatment. This was an historic victory for the Divine Vision given to Brown. No longer would the parade be confined to marching into south St. Petersburg but would be attended by all people of all races and backgrounds. Brown’s argument to the federal courts was that “it would be the worst form of irony to segregate the commemoration of the memory of the very man that almost single handedly was responsible for dismantling the “Walls of Institutional Segregation in America”! Central Avenue, the equivalent of Peachtree Street in Atlanta, was the new home of the National MLK Parade. Simultaneously, Brown had purposely and strategically allowed the parade to march south on 9th Street for 3 years because he wanted people to be comfortable with his eventual official filing to change 9th Street’s name to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Street. It took 2 years after Brown filed the $200.00 filing fee in 1990 for 9th Street to be renamed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Street. It met Brown’s requirements because it ran the entire length of the city (12.6 miles) through White and Black neighborhoods and exited Interstate I-275. Traveling people would know that the City of St. Petersburg was honoring King in a monumental way.

Brown reached out to internationally renowned evangelist Dr. Edward Earl Cleveland to gain further support of God’s Vision to him. Dr. Cleveland marched and worked with Dr. King and Rev. Dr. Ralph Abernathy and coordinated and furnished the feeding and medical support infra structure for Resurrection City in 1968. Dr. Cleveland served as keynote speaker for the MLK Interdenominational Ecumenical Memorial Services first instituted by Brown to garner the support of city officials, the church and business community in supporting the annual commemoration of King in St. Petersburg. As Secretary of the World General Conference of Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) and known internationally as the “Preacher’s Preacher”, Dr. Cleveland theologically mapped out why everyone should embrace and support the memorialization of Dr. King in these celebrations. Dr. Cleveland mobilized the entire city and his General Conference to put their own North American Division of SDA float in the parade. Additionally, Brown saw fit to have the SDA Youth Pathfinders Division to lead off the National MLK Parade for the last 22 years to carry the official MLK Parade 12 flags and banner. Dr. Cleveland has converted non-supporters as keynote speaker for the MLK Banquet and the MLK Ecumenical Memorial Service for seven times in the last 22 years. The spiritual leadership and divine intervention that he has brought to these MLK Commemorative Celebrations is God sent and will forever be held in highest esteem by the City of St. Petersburg, Pinellas County, the State of Florida, SCLC, the MLK Holiday & Legacy Association, Inc. and the entire Brown family.

The continuation of spiritual intervention, blessings and prayer is devoutly sought and insisted upon by Brown. Every aspect of the National Parade & Battle of Bands is first brought before the “Prayer Warriors”, a group of 35 professional women in St. Petersburg, who have prayed over every issue taken on by Brown for the last 25 years. Brown continually credits the prayers of this group and God as the architect of every victory and miracle that has been enjoyed.

Four days of fostering racial, cultural, religious and ethnic harmony is an educational experience for countless thousands of high school and university band members that make the pilgrimage. Brown points to the testimony of the success of God’s Vision when he looks at the MLK Parades that have sprung up in every hamlet, village, city and metropolis as the visiting bands and visitors have taken back to their respective cities the concept of a traditional parade in honor of Dr. King.

The first parade, on January 20, 1986, was estimated by the police department as having an attendance of 25,000 people. In 1987, the police estimate was 38,000. In 1988, the estimate was 60,000. On Brown’s recommendation, the School Board voted to close the schools of Pinellas County by one vote and make Dr. King’s birthday a school holiday. The school board was already losing money, because the students were attending the parade instead of being in school. The parade now averages an annual attendance of 100,000.

Brown’s commitment to God’s Vision was tested and tried by fire as countless worst-case scenarios were hurled at the parade to stop its infectious spirit on people of good will. Brown vividly remembers the White police lieutenant, in an emergency like demeanor, approaching him during the MLK Battle of the Bands, saying Mr. Brown; it’s your call on what we shall do next. Someone called in a bomb threat. Do you want us to stop the show and empty Al Lang Field Stadium? Brown refused to allow bigots to undermine the Vision and continued his “Walk of Faith” and the bands salute and tribute to Dr. King went on. Targeted by threats against his life, stigmatized as a troublemaker by those holding onto the vestiges of old ways and resented for his work in civil rights, Brown finally met with physical violence. Brown was attacked coming out of the Super Tuesday National Elections involving the candidacy of Rev. Jessie Jackson’s run for the presidency. Brown had left the School Board meeting with the victory of the Board’s vote to make Dr. King’s birthday a holiday. Hosting a successful voter registration campaign registering some 2,500 new voters, Brown was attacked from behind, stomped in the face, neck and back leaving him with a split jaw, requiring a secured stay in the hospital with his mouth sealed for 8 weeks. “We finally silenced him” was the echoing refrain in the mouths of those who longed, so long, for such satisfaction.

Band booster organizations mobilized to stop their predominately White high school bands’ participation, proclaiming, “We’ll never let our daughters and sons march in a N_ _ _ _ _ parade”. For example, band directors and their band boosters organized boycotts behind closed doors, and the Florida Music Education Association moved their annual convention to the week before the federal holiday providing excuses to White band directors to not participate in the National MLK Parade. Yet, Brown leaned on God to preserve the Vision and the parade moved on.

Pinellas County Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Scott Rose responded to Brown’s appeal and designated Director of Operations, Mr. Lewis Williams, an African American, to serve on a MLK Parade TASK FORCE created by Brown. As liaison for the Pinellas County Board, Williams made sure that no boycott by band directors ever materialized and preserved the full participation of local high school bands for over two decades. Williams’s contributions have been critical to the success of the National MLK Celebrations and will never be forgotten by Brown and the university band directors. His presence is irreplaceable in the history of parade.

Accepting no salary, Brown contributed to the parade, his personal checks that resulted from the law suits for injuries sustained from his attack and a traffic accident to pay for the transportation, housing and feeding of the HBCU bands when no one supported the Vision. Some thought Brown had crossed the line from the sane to the insane considering the monetary awards involved. “Keep the Drum Major Alive, Keep His Dream Alive; no matter what, until the rest of the world catches on.” This was Browns’ only thought. If Dr. King could make the supreme sacrifice for not just 22 million African Americans, but all Americans, then certainly, his monetary sacrifice fell far short of the scores of people whose lives were taken during King’s Civil Rights campaigns for freedom. Brown reflected on those who died in the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Historic March, the deaths and beatings of others in Mississippi during the Freedom Rides and Sit-Ins at the eating counters by SNCC. Brown’s only response was “I’m getting off light”.

Well something caught on because Brown won the support of Professor Cleophus Johnson, tenured master band director at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia. Johnson was overwhelmed by the Vision God had given Brown and annually brought his “Marching Wolverines Band” to help make the parade a national event. Prof. Johnson agreed to serve as Brown’s chairman over the Advisory Board pulling in other master band directors that responded to Brown’s appeal to help him design the National MLK Parade and Battle of the Bands. Brown wanted a parade designed by the very people who made the major parades what they are, the band directors. Brown respected and implemented every suggestion given him by the various HBCU’s Director of Bands, Prof. Cleophus Johnson at Morris Brown College, Prof. Benjamin Butler at Texas Southern University, Prof. Jimmy Williams and Dr. Hodge at North Carolina A & T University, Dr. Dowell Taylor at Jackson State University and Prof. Charles Smith at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff.

These master band directors shared the same commitment that Professor Cleophus Johnson espoused. In the words of Cleophus Johnson, “Brown, don’t you worry, just get my band to St. Petersburg and feed and house us. You don’t have to pay us a dime in an honorarium. This is the least every African American master band director in America can do for Dr. King. I just feel good that you’ve asked for my professional assistance and have given me a way to give back to Dr. King”. This conversation by telephone overwhelmed Brown with tears. He had to call Cleophus back to finish the conversation. Brown’s emotions took over just as it did with his grandmother’s funeral. His throat was involuntarily traumatized and there was no way to hold back the tears and explain his sense of joy or respond to Cleophus good news. He dropped the phone, found his way into a private room and dropped to his knees as he wept in an oasis of indescribable emotions. Ever so often, Brown could here himself praising God with a trembling voice. This was a miraculous moment in the history of the Vision, for God had just delivered a victory for His own Vision to be fulfilled. Brown now understood that his job was to just stay the course and keep the faith until God delivered victory after victory for over 22 years.

The other Director of Bands followed the lead of Prof. Johnson and told Brown “Just get us there!” as the Vision struck a cord with them. Brown discovered for the first time, however, that the HBCU’s didn’t have the funds to do something of this nature on their own. This was an historic event that was never foreseen. No budgets were prepared with it in mind.

Yes, something was happening and someone was catching on as Mr. Roy Sphere, CEO and one of the 100 hundred richest men in America witnessed in the newspapers and on TV how forces were trying to kill the MLK National Parade & Battle of the Bands in January of 1991. Not even knowing Brown, he called Brown some 17 times before a newspaper reporter begged Brown to call Sphere back. Brown did and Roy Sphere summoned him to his executive offices at Home Shopping Network to tell him what he needed for the MLK Celebration to go on. Roy then flew in on company jets all his Vice Presidents and General Counsel from around the world to meet Brown. In this historic meeting, Roy pronounced in his familiar commanding thunderous voice to his officers, “Gentlemen, I’ll bring the bands in myself. Listen up, all roads from all of you lead to Sevell and the road from Sevell leads to me. I don’t want Sevell to give me one complaint about Dr. King’s parade!” Roy Sphere made sure that the parade went on and volunteered to pay all bills associated with the parade and asked Brown to give him the budget for 1992. Brown gave Sphere the projected budget to bring in the five universities and Sphere’s only response was “Let’s bring in the bands”. God had delivered once again for the Vision he gave Brown. Brown’s constant refrain when speaking to people, was that “God was in the business of transforming negative experiences into positive consequences”.

With Cleophus passing away the MLK National Celebration lost a beloved and dear friend who helped to give birth to an historic event that is the largest in the nation. Brown views Professor Cleophus Johnson as one of America’s greatest Drum Major for Justice, a person who contributed greatly to keeping Dr. King’s Dream Alive. The entire Morris Brown College Marching Wolverine Band staff, drum majors, band division leaders and band members who participated in the MLK National Parade & Battle of the Bands over the years will always be held in highest esteem by Brown.

The impact that Morris Brown College, Bethune Cookman College, which was the very first university band to participate, FAMU, Texas Southern University, North Carolina A & T University and others is entrenched in the minds of thousands of their alumni that attend the annual parade. Brown will never forget seeing his former teachers break down and cry after seeing their own Alma Mater turn the corner on 3rd Avenue and step out onto 9th Street South wearing their school colors. Ms. Rubye Wysinger, Ms. Rosa Hemingway and countless hundreds of educators shouted until they lost their voices as they cheered the participation of their Alma Maters marching bands as they made American history in establishing the first traditional parade in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Voluntarily stepping in, in the aftermath of Johnson’s passing, was Professor Paul Adams of Jackson State University who would come back many times and offer his support without compensation for providing his organizational expertise. Adams helped to critique the event from year to year and focused on detail and format. It is because of Adams’ devotion and professionalism that Dr. O’Neil Sanford and the HCBU’s National Consortium of Band Directors voted for their HBCU All Star Band to make its historic debut at the January 2006, 20th Anniversary of the National MLK Battle of Bands, Drum Line Extravaganza and Parade. Under the directorship of the HCBU’s National Consortium president, and master band director at Norfolk State University, Dr. O’Neil Sanford, some 230 university band students from 7 HBCU’s took center stage and brought the crowds to their feet.

Assisting Brown in finding a new home for the MLK Battle of Bands was the legendary Tampa attorney Jonathan Alpert, who was committed to stopping any and all attempts to kill or steal the National MLK Battle of the Bands. Attorney Alpert with other key politicians responded to Brown’s appeal for a special meeting with Tampa Bay Devil Rays baseball owners. Attending this historic meeting were Mr. Bobby Doctor, Regional Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, city officials, Councilman Atty. Bill Foster and State Rep. Frank Peterman. Brown reminded everyone that the stadium sits on the original Black settlement of Methodist Town and the Gas Plant area. Blacks had agreed in the mid eighties to allow its original settlement to be razed in the name of progress to bring National League Baseball to St. Petersburg by building the Dome. Blacks were promised that anything they wanted to be done in the stadium they could have, if they would agree to let the city buy their land. Brown’s response was and still is that native born African American citizens want to commemorate Dr. King in its Stadium. Attorney Julian McPhillips from Montgomery, Alabama, the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement, became a friend to this endeavor. Congressman Rev. Walter Fauntroy of Washington, D.C., a former lieutenant of Dr. King, preceded everyone in these efforts to convince the National Baseball League to work with Brown in his quest to find a new home for the MLK Battle of the Bands. The appeals to baseball did not fall on deaf ears as the Tropicana Field Dome Stadium became the permanent home of the MLK Battle of the Bands. The national celebration has flourished under the new ownership of the Tampa Bay Rays. No longer did the bands have to be concerned about being rained out and exposed to the cold winds coming off the Gulf of Mexico at night. God had delivered another victory to His Vision.

God was still delivering victory after victory and planning became much easier and proficient with the arrival of Dr. Goliath Davis, Deputy Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg. Brown no longer had to battle by himself. Atty. Rick Baker, the innovative new mayor appointed Dr. Davis to fill the chair of the City’s MLK Commemorative Parade & Battle of Bands TASK FORCE. Also, with his arrival came one of the most progressive city councils in the history of St. Petersburg. The Vision was fully embraced and witnessed unprecedented support that it had never before enjoyed. White councilmember Atty. William Foster, a former band member himself, led the charge for support for several years and promised the crowd his support to help get the Battle of the Bands out of the small outdoor Al Lang Stadium into Tropicana Field Dome Stadium on a permanent basis. Joined by African American Councilmember Ernest Williams, this duo and Deputy Mayor Davis accounted for the tremendous progress and support the parade now enjoys.

African American County Commissioner Kenneth Welch, chairman of the Pinellas County Commission also joined in and assisted immensely in providing new support for the MLK national celebration as the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention and Visitors Bureau came on board as a major sponsor. This contributed immensely to the success of the 2006 22nd Annual MLK Battle of the Bands and Parade. The event witnessed the likes of Bethune Cookman University Marching Wildcats Band, the South Carolina State Marching Bulldogs Band and the Alabama State University Marching Hornets Band, Barron Collier High School Cougars band of Naples, Florida and others. The crowds went crazy as these bands executed their own special salutes and tributes to Dr. King. South Carolina State also saluted the life of the “Godfather of Soul”, Mr. James Brown who had just passed away.

Yes, most certainly, someone or something is catching on. Brown feels perhaps it is because God provided the greatest victory to date, when he received another phone call from someone he did not know. They had reviewed Brown’s Vision on paper and wanted to meet. Out of this meeting, the MLK Parade & Battle of the Bands would be elevated to a whole new level, as Mr. Bill Carey, Vice President and General Manager of ABC TV came aboard as a major sponsor. Mr. Carey arranged for the telecasting of the parade with the live feed being sent to 200 major markets national wide. Arranged for the first time, ABC TV is telecasting by ABC Broadband NOW Internet worldwide, so everyone with a computer will see the parade. Needless to say Brown sought out a private place again to praise God and offer thanks for yet another miracle.

No sooner than Bill Carey of ABC TV pledged to advance the “Vision” to a higher level in 2004, Brown received a call from Mr. Ron Shepard, known as “Jomama Johnson”. Mr. Shepard is a long time preeminent D.J. radio personality with 95.7 “THE BEAT” WBTP FM Radio Station in Tampa, Florida. “Jomama” had worked with Brown for 14 years to make sure that his radio station was in the parade annually. In a historic meeting with Brown, Jomama unveiled his plan to take the MLK Battle of Bands and Parade to a much higher level on radio. Jomama disclosed to Brown that over the years, he had appreciated the courteous treatment given him and his station by Brown and made a promise to himself that once he was in a position to help he would. “Jomama Johnson” has now risen to the level of Program Director of 95.7 FM WBPT Clear Channel-Tampa , the first time an African American has achieved this distinction. Jomama then unveiled his unprecedented plan to become a $50,000 sponsor and build the MLK Battle of Bands like no other station has ever done in the past 20 years. The following year, “Jomama” and WBTP 95.7 FM “The BEAT” joined the $100,000.00 sponsorship level with ABC TV. In the words of “Jomama Johnson”, “Sevell you’ve been out here far too long all by yourself trying to “Keep Dr. King’s Dream Alive”. It’s time some of the rest of us stepped up to the plate and do what we know we can do best to advance this Vision. WBTP 95.7 FM “THE BEAT” is now going to do what all radio stations could have done all along and that is to put serious dollars behind the promotion of the National MLK Battle of Bands. Gone are the days of $1,500.00 sponsorships by radio stations for this National MLK Parade & Battle of Bands”. This was indeed historic. Brown left the meeting, praising God all the way back to St. Petersburg as he drove over the Howard Franklin Bridge.

As a result of Brown’s Vision, thousands of young children identify with these bands to the extent of wanting to emulate them and wear their university uniforms. To do so, they internalize the idea of mastering the academics to be able to matriculate to the collegiate ranks.

The MLK Battle of the Bands, thusly, has become the nations’ oldest and largest neutral platform for master university band directors to recruit high school band students interested in matriculating to the collegiate ranks. Additionally, these events have provided university bands the opportunity to observe participating quality high school bands that take the annual pilgrimage to St. Petersburg, Florida from across America.

The vision becomes complete as the original goal is accomplished by telecasting these events nationally. This annual pilgrimage is older than the Essence Music Festival, and has become immensely enhanced and appreciated in significance and importance with its national telecast. As envisioned by Brown, people from all walks of life would take a four (4) day mini vacation in the heart of winter in St. Petersburg, Florida, surrounded by 25 miles of beaches, an hour and a half from Disney, Universal Studios, Island of Adventure, Epcot Center, and the best golf courses in America from Friday through Monday every year.