The story of Martin Luther King is one we know but it should be told often and in many different formats.

His story is an American story.

It is a story that must never be forgotten.

It is part of the narrative of America.

And now the story is coming to life on the stage of the Valdosta Performing Arts Center located on Barack Obama Boulevard, thanks to the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts and sponsors who realize the importance of all aspects of American history.

“I Have a Dream” will be performed by the Virginia Repertory Theatre, 6:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, at the Performing Arts Center.

The Virginia Repertory Theatre presented the play “Harriet Tubman & the Underground Railroad” last year in Valdosta. The Turner Center also presented the Tubman show.

Born Jan. 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. rose to prominence during the civil rights era. Using Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent methods of civil disobedience, King led demonstrations to protest inequality in the lives of Black citizens in the South and throughout the United States.

As a young preacher, King’s work began in the mid-1950s when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person on a Montgomery bus. King became a leader of the 385-day Montgomery Bus Boycott.

The boycott set a pattern for his civil-rights work. He gained great prominence but with terrible consequences. As he rose to national recognition during the bus boycott, he also suffered the bombing of his house.

He would become honored and jailed. King received the Nobel Peace Prize but he endured the violence of Selma. He preached “I have a dream,” while people attempted to silence him. He would practice love but be the focus of hate.

He lived for the Declaration of Independence’s American promise that all people are created equal. On April 4, 1968, he died for that ideal, killed by an assassin’s bullet on a hotel balcony in Memphis, Tenn.

We cannot commend the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts highly enough for realizing the importance of this story.

The show is free to the public with seats available on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information about the program or other events and activities, call (229) 247-2787 or visit turnercenter.org. Patrons who need special assistance may contact the Center to make arrangements.