As America inaugurates its first black president for a second term, 78-year-old Gordon Martin Jr. won’t be among the celebrities and dignitaries in Washington for the gala celebrations. That’s never been his style.

Instead the retired judge will be gearing up to tell the stories of unsung people — teachers, lawyers, and others — who fought to help African-Americans in Mississippi during the 1960s exercise their right to vote. On Monday, Inauguration Day, he will address the annual Martin Luther King Jr. dinner and program at First Congregational Church in Melrose.