COLUMBIA --- J.W. Hayes leaned against South Carolina's monument to Confederate soldiers Monday and said he couldn't be prouder to be at that exact spot at the Statehouse, honoring the life of civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Mr. Hayes was at the capital nine years ago at the first King Day at the Dome Rally, when 50,000 people called for the Confederate flag to be removed from atop the Statehouse dome. On Monday, the flag was flying at its new home, a 20-foot pole on the front lawn. But Mr. Hayes said he couldn't be more full of hope.

"I'm a 55-year-old black man. I've been in Columbia all my life. I've seen Jim Crow at its worst. Today's rally, it's just special. It's so special, because tomorrow we will welcome a black president," he said. "I can't imagine how MLK must feel today."

Mr. Hayes was one of more than 1,000 people who showed up Monday to honor the slain civil rights leader at the South Carolina NAACP's annual King Day at the Dome rally. It was one of the smallest crowds in nine years of the event, in part because many were in Washington, D.C., for today's inauguration.

Monday's rally centered on Barack Obama's historic day and calls to end inequality in education, justice and earning power.

The event started with a prayer service at Zion Baptist Church, followed by a five-block march to the Statehouse led by football players from Scott's Branch High School in Summerton, where lawsuits that brought down segregation started.

As marchers rounded the corner onto Main Street, a cold breeze kicked up, snapping the Confederate flag in front of the Capitol into clear view two blocks away. Completely removing the flag from Statehouse grounds is one of the NAACP's main goals.

Speakers told the crowd the U.S. still has a long way to go to reach Dr. King's dream of equality for all.

"Race is still America's bad and terroristic side," said Lonnie Randolph, the president of the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

So much more has to be done, such as assuring blacks get the same education as whites, can earn as much at their jobs as whites and are treated by police the same as whites, said Mr. Randolph, who gave the keynote speech at the rally in place of national NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Jealous because the weather kept him in Washington.

In past years, nearly a dozen people showed up to protest the rally and the NAACP's criticism of the Confederate flag. But only four protesters carrying the Confederate flag showed up Monday, and they left before the rally ended.