Across the nation, institutions of higher education are presenting events to celebrate the life and legacy of civil rights legend Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. before, on and after Monday’s national holiday.
King, born 90 years ago this week in Atlanta, was assassinated April 4, 1968 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where he had gone to support striking sanitation workers. By the time of his death at age 39, he was globally renowned as the most powerful voice of the Civil Rights Movement.
Every year, thousands of events are held across the nation and abroad to honor King’s legacy and to promote the ideals he espoused: service, social and economic justice, civil and human rights and racial equality. With commemorative events stretching into February, Black History Month, the King holiday has become more a season than a day.
Activities are planned starting Saturday across the City University of New York system on and off campuses. The City College of New York and Guttman Community College have organized a service day Saturday at East Harlem Scholars Academy II, and the Dance Theater of Harlem will be featured in a commemoration Sunday afternoon at Queens College’s Kupferberg Center for the Arts. Slated for Monday are Medgar Evers College’s all-day tribute at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Hoston Community College’s student volunteer day.
“We strive to express Dr. King’s ideals through our mission of serving students from all backgrounds, and we join the nation in honoring his legacy,” said CUNY interim chancellor Dr. Vita C. Rabinowitz. “One of the memorable and moving events in CUNY history was Dr. King’s 1963 commencement address at City College, which he delivered just hours after the assassination of Medgar Evers in Mississippi. His words that day ring true more than half a century later. Now more than ever, our university endeavors to help ‘transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.’”
King’s niece, former college professor and Georgia legislator Dr. Alveda King, will speak Saturday evening at a celebration at Johnson County Community College in Kansas. “Building the Beloved Community: Love Is the Only Way” is the theme of the event at the Polsky Theatre.
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., who worked alongside King in the movement, will be the featured speaker at Shaw University’s annual celebration Thursday morning at the C.C. Spaulding Gymnasium.
