MLK Library Branch Now Open for Business

The new Martin Luther King branch of the Rapides Parish Library is open for business. It’s on Broadway and is a full-service branch for the entire community.

This library has come a long way from its days in a crowded building on Smash Avenue.

The library is also an important addition to the educational community in the Broadway area. Students from Peabody and Smith Junior High can use the services for their studies.

Art works by nationally known artist Morris Taft Thomas enhance the library. Thomas lives in the neighborhood and has a special connection to Doctor King, for whom the library is named. He was the one who met the late civil rights leader at the airport in the 1960’s when he visited Alexandria.

Thomas also owns an extensive collection of Doctor King’s sermons. Also, the two are members of the same fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha.

Thomas is now a full-time artist, but he once taught art in the Rapides Parish school system.

KLAX ABC 31 News 9/25/14