On this Martin Luther King day, his legacy lives on, but civil rights leaders in the Ozarks say the fight is not over.

"We still need to understand how to love each other, how to accept each other, and accept each other's differences," said Francine Pratt, President of the Springfield NAACP.

One person who figured that out years ago was Gladys Young, the first black woman to work full-time at the Springfield Post Office.

Her grandson, Jordan Johnson's writings about her struggles won this year's NAACP essay contest.

"My grandma experienced lots of harrassment at the post office.  When she was in the work area, she would hear N-word this and N-word that," said Johnson as he read his essay aloud.

Those words were spoke in 1988, just 22 years ago.

"It was very hard.  For the first two weeks I sat in my car and cried every night before I went in the door," said Young.

But she says a lot changed over those years, and some of her enemies are now her best friends.

"I think we've come a pretty good ways, and change takes time.  It's not without sacrifice," said Young.

Even Martin Luther King, Jr. himself knew change would not come easily.

"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," said King after the march on Washington in 1963.

Now, as blacks and whites stand aside one another singing , and supporting one another in unity, it's clear Doctor King's message of the dream is still alive.

The Springfield chapter of the NAACP continues to grow, and says if you would like to be a part of the organization to contact it at naacpspringfieldmo.org.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee when the civil rights movement was in its prime.

Story ideas or comments?  Email me at wcarter@kspr.com