The University’s 20th annual celebration honoring Martin Luther King Jr. takes place at 7 p.m. Jan. 15 in Graham Chapel. The event kicks off a semester-long series of related activities.
The celebration is titled “The Dream of One; the Actions of Many; the Responsibility of All.”
Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will begin the program with a welcome and remarks. The evening will include performances by the YMCA Boys Choir, the University’s Visions Gospel Choir and Black Anthology, as well as testimonials from University students.
A reception in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge follows the program.
Emphasis will be placed on the 20th anniversary of the 14-part series Eyes on the Prize, a documentary of the civil rights movement by filmmaker and alumnus Henry E. Hampton (1940-1998). The award-winning series ran on PBS. A St. Louis native, Hampton graduated from WUSTL in 1961, and the Henry Hampton Collection is part of the University’s Film & Media Archive.
The celebration, sponsored by several student groups and campus departments, is free and open to the public. For more information, call 935-5970.
Other free, public King-related events include:
• The School of Medicine’s Office of Diversity Programs annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration lecture, 4 p.m. Jan. 15 in the Eric P. Newman Education Center. Patricia J. Williams, professor of law at Columbia Law School and author of The Alchemy of Race and Rights, will speak. For more information, call 362-6854.
• The Black Law Students Association’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative speaker event, 11 a.m. Jan. 17 in Anheuser-Busch Hall. Sherrilyn Ifill, associate professor of law at the University of Maryland, presents “Twenty-first Century Challenges to Racial Justice Lawyering.” Ifill is a nationally recognized advocate in the areas of civil rights, voting rights, judicial diversity and judicial decision-making. For more information, call 935-4958.
• MLK Jr. Financial Freedom Conference, sponsored by the George Warren Brown School of Social Work and the Society of Black Student Social Workers, 10 a.m. Jan. 20 in Brown and Goldfarb halls. The asset-building conference for students and community members offers workshops focused on providing financial education and tools for building personal and intergenerational wealth. For more information, call 935-9116.
• Black Anthology’s annual celebration of the black experience in America, 7 p.m. Feb. 2-3 at Edison Theatre.
• Morehouse College Glee Club performance, 7 p.m. March 5 in Graham Chapel.
• “Gandhi, King and Ikeda: A Legacy of Building Peace,” an exhibition in Olin Library, April 16-27. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College, will attend the April 15 opening reception.