First African Baptist Church to host ‘Dublin Civil Rights Experience’

First African Baptist Church, Visit Dublin Georgia and Hub Dudley descendent Carl Pearson are partnering to present an immersive readers theater during “One Day: Dublin’s Civil Rights Experience” held next weekend.

The event, which will take place at 10 a.m. on Aug. 2 at First AB Church, will cost $8, and tickets can be purchased online by going to VisitDublinGa.org/event/one-day-dublins-civil-rights-experience/

Visit Dublin Georgia Executive Director Miriam Lewis said tickets also will be sold at the door of First AB Church, 405 Telfair St.

“We decided that we wanted to start presenting this regularly several times a year,” Lewis said. “For one, all of the ticket sales are going back to the church, and also this event gets the history out there to our locals and tourists.” 

The event will mark the anniversary of King’s “I Have A Dream Speech,” given on Aug. 28, 1963 in Washington, D.C. This reader’s theater will explore the impact of Dudley, a trailblazing local Black entrepreneur, and the early influence of Martin Luther King Jr.’s first public speech, delivered at First African Baptist Church in 1944, along with other Civil Rights Movement leaders in Dublin.

This event also will give people an opportunity to go inside the church.

“We are often asked about that at the visitors center,” Lewis said. “We are hoping to catch the interest of maybe historical and theater groups. I’ve talked to someone from the Georgia Presenters, who were in town a few weeks ago, and also someone from the Athens area and also school groups.” 

For more information, call Visit Dublin Georgia at (478) 272-4002.