MEMPHIS — Mt. Olive Cathedral CME Church held its 145th anniversary celebration on Sunday, July 12. The event’s theme, Honoring Our Heritage, Empowering the Present, Advancing Justice for the Future, framed a day of reflection on the church’s civil rights legacy and its path forward in community engagement. Liturgical dancers performed during the celebration, adding a visual expression of worship to the commemoration. Rev. Dr.

Wayne A. Williams, who completed his first year as pastor of Mt. Olive Cathedral CME Church at the time of the anniversary, addressed the congregation, declaring, "You are inevitably a giant in your own right, and you are historic in your own right. Anyone who is a student of history cannot talk or reflect on the historicity of Memphis without including the church named Mt. Olive Cathedral CME Church."

Guest speaker Rev. Dr. L. LaSimba M. Gray Jr., pastor emeritus of New Sardis Baptist Church, the church’s role in the civil rights movement. "Mount Olive was the epicenter of The Movement. All of the NAACP meetings were held here. Downstairs is where they strategized," he said. Gray also urged the congregation to assess local needs, asking, "What if Mt. Olive took some steps around a one-mile radius to see what is going on? Find out what the community needs are."

Rev. Cameron Kuykindall, a senior at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, served as co-chair of the 145th anniversary celebration alongside Rose Kuykindall. Cameron Kuykindall reflected on the importance of historical continuity and innovation, saying, "Our history is important, and being here allows me to be mentored by a wonderful network of individuals who have my best interest at heart.

Being surrounded by this kind of history is important. However, we must do things in a new light and in innovative ways." Ten-year-old Avery Rose Davis also spoke at the celebration, though her remarks are not quoted here due to speaker exclusion guidelines. Mt. Olive Cathedral CME Church, founded by Rev. G.W.

Armour in 1881, has deep roots in Memphis civil rights history. Before its formal establishment, the congregation gathered for Bible lessons at a site known as the "jug factory" on Georgia Avenue. The church moved to its current neo-classical building at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue (formerly Linden Avenue) and Lauderdale Street in 1952. That building, originally designed in 1907 by R. H. Hunt for First Baptist Church, stands in a neighborhood where the adjacent street was renamed in Dr. King’s honor in 2012. The church served as a meeting place for the NAACP Memphis Branch and hosted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during a 1957 Southern Christian Leadership Conference gathering. It was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2005 and has recently hosted national figures such as attorney Ben Crump. The Tarik Black Foundation and Kudzukian Media Group’s nonprofit podcast studios are also headquartered at the church, underscoring its ongoing role as a community hub.