COLLEGE PARK, MD. – With President Barack Obama delivering a globally-televised speech Wednesday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, dozens if not hundreds of colleges and universities organized tributes to mark the most inspiring event in the American civil rights movement.
Recalling how the “soaring oratory” of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech “gave mighty voice to the quiet hopes of millions … [and] offered a salvation path for oppressed and oppressors alike,” Obama praised the late civil rights champion for the leadership he presented to the nation.
“His words belong to the ages, possessing a power and prophecy unmatched in our time,” the president said.
Campus events, ranging from rallies, lectures, brown bag lunch discussions, teach-ins to speech re-enactments, also paid homage to King and the powerful speech he delivered at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963.
At the University of Maryland, College Park, the March on Washington anniversary led administrators to invite members of the university community to reflect on the impact of the civil rights movement in its MKL50: “I Have a Dream” program. Utilizing the Chapel Garden of Reflection and Remembrance, which includes a labyrinth, university employees and students undertook guided labyrinth walks while listening to music from the civil rights era on Wednesday afternoon.
“We thought university staff and students would appreciate commemorating the march by taking a thoughtful and meditative approach to it,” said Denise McHugh, coordinator of the university chapel.
