(NECN: Josh Brogadir, Boston) - The end of the night, it was quite a concert at the Hatch Shell with a look back on how Boston remembers.
Looking back on 50 years of civil rights through the lens of the city of Boston takes us to the Esplanade on a fine summer evening.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's landmark "I Have a Dream" speech, with the Boston Landmarks Orchestra on August 28, 2013.
Philip Lima, the soloist, with the privilege of singing the words Dr.King so eloquently and powerfully delivered on the mall in Washington.
"They certainly ring true as a dream. We're at 50 years, maybe we're at the 50 yard line in terms of progress. Undoubtedly lots of progress has been made, but we have much more progress to make," Lima said.
Mass. Governor Deval Patrick was part of the day's commemorative events from narrating at the concert to the ringing of the bells.
At the Old South Meeting House, letting freedom ring, 50 years to the moment when Dr. King's forever stirring words woke up a nation.
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"The struggle we have in this country is striking the balance between acknowledging the extraordinary progress we have made and acknowledging how much progress we have yet to make," Governor Patrick said.
As children walk along at the Garden of Peace 50 years later, so much has changed, but not everything.
"There's a lot on the agenda, but I don't see the commitment of either the elected leadership of the United States, unfortunately there's a lot of indifference on the part of the American public," said Paul Nevins of West Roxbury.
"We're still separated. We're still not, we're a ways from where he wanted us to be, all of God's children together. and we haven't come to that point," said Mattie Brantley of Mattapan.
