January 19 marks the national observance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Events are planned on both the Hilltop and Medical campuses to commemorate King’s contributions and legacy. All are free and open to the public.
“Remember. Celebrate. Act. It Begins With Me” is the theme of the University’s Commemoration Celebration honoring King at 7 p.m. Jan. 19 in Graham Chapel. This is the 17th year the University has supported a tribute to King.
Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will begin the program, followed by several student and faculty testimonials. The event will include performances by the Joya Drumming Ensemble, the YMCA Boys Choir, the Visions Gospel Choir and the SLAM poetry group.
A reception will be held in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge following the program.
The Commemoration Celebration is sponsored by various members of the University community, including campus and student organizations.
For more information, call (314) 935-5970.
Among the University’s other MLK-related events are:
• Manning Marable, professor of history and political science at Columbia University and one of American’s most influential historians and political interpreters of the black experience, will present the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Lecture at 4 p.m. Jan. 19 in the Eric P. Newman Education Center, 320 S. Euclid Ave.
This lecture is sponsored by the School of Medicine’s Office of Diversity Programs. A reception will follow.
For more information, call (314) 362-6854.
• The School of Law will present its 2004 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Address at 11 a.m. Jan. 21 in the Bryan Cave Moot Court-room in Anheuser-Busch Hall. Theodore M. Shaw, associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, will present “From Brown to Grutter: The Legal Struggle for Racial Equality.” Shaw is a former trial attorney for the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The law school’s King address is hosted annually by the Black Law Students Association.
For more information, call (314) 935-4958.
• In an effort to foster and encourage productive and proactive dialogue about race within the community of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work (GWB) at Washington University and the St. Louis region, the Society of Black Student Social Workers (SBSSW) will host “Celebrating King Holiday 2004: Forum on Race,” Jan. 19 from 2-6 p.m. in Room 100 of Brown Hall. The guest speaker for this event is Tim Wise, a social justice activist and senior advisor to the Fisk University Race Relations Institute, who will speak on the topic of white privilege. His lecture, which will follow a professionally facilitated discussion on race relations with members of the student body and the greater GWB community, will begin at 4:30 p.m.
For more information, call (314) 935-9116 or click here to view the full article.
• The Business Minority Council will present a talk about King’s contributions toward equality in education and the workplace and how his efforts have affected African-Americans in the business world. The event will be held at 3 p.m. Jan. 22 at the Olin School of Business.
For more information, call (314) 935-7301.
• Peter Kastor, Ph.D., assistant director of the American Culture Studies Program in Arts & Sciences, will speak at the Martin Luther King Memorial Holiday Celebration Event at the Missouri Historical Society at 10 a.m. Jan. 19.
Kastor, along with several University students, will explore the freedom suits filed by African Americans in antebellum St. Louis, the most famous being the landmark Dred Scott case. A post-lecture tour of the Currents gallery in the History Museum’s Seeking St. Louis exhibition will be made available.
Reservations are required. For more information, call (314) 361-9017.