The College of Charleston will be commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with a week of events beginning Thursday, January 12, 2012. The events include a Unity and Peace Rally, a Day of Service, a film screening and two lectures. All events are free and open to the public.
Dr. John Bello-Ogunu, associate vice president and chief diversity officer notes, “The College community commemorates the late Dr. King’s birthday and honor his legacies each year because we believe in his dream for the human race – equality, social and economic justice, freedom, peace, and the harmonious co-existence between all races and groups.”
On Thursday, January 12, 2012, the College’s MLK commemoration will kick-off with a Unity and Peace Rally at 5:00 p.m. in the Cistern Yard. There will be performances by renowned violinist “Daniel D” and the Charleston Development Academy Charter School “CDA Singing Eagles”. There will also be a tribute poem read by Margaret Edwards. Rally attendees will participate in a candlelit vigil march from Cistern Yard to the Avery Research Center. All are invited to participate in the rally.
At the conclusion of the march, the “MLK and Lorenzo Dow Turner: Leadership, Language and Liberation” featured speaker event will take place at 6:00 p.m. at the Avery Research Center (125 Bull St.). In addition there will be a dialogue between Camille Akeju, director, Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum, and Michael Allen, community partnership specialist, Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. This event will mark the Avery Research Center’s opening of the Smithsonian Institute exhibit entitled “Word, Shout, Song: Lorenzo Dow Turner Connecting Communities through Language” from the Anacostia Community Museum in Washington, D.C. Congressman James Clyburn will be making remarks during the event and the James E. and Emily E. Clyburn Endowment for Archives in History at South Carolina State University sponsored the traveling component of the exhibition.
Since 2005, Camille Giraud Akeju has served as director of the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum where she works to advance the museum’s mission to document, preserve and interpret African American culture and history from a community perspective. Michael Allen has been a community activist for most of his professional life and was instrumental in creating the Gullah Geechee Heritage Commission. He has served in his current role since 2009.
On Monday, January 16, 2012, more than 100 students, faculty and staff will participate in the MLK Day of Service. All participants will meet in Cougar Mall (across from the Starbucks/FedEx Office on Calhoun Street) at 8:00 a.m. before traveling to the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry and YWCA to participate in various service projects. Volunteers will be on the sites from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This event requires registration to participate. A light breakfast and lunch will be provided.
On Wednesday, January 18, 2012 civil rights activist Bob Zellner will present “The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement” in the Stern Center Ballroom at 7:00 p.m. Zellner will tell the story of his journey from son and grandson of Klansmen to field secretary of Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). “The Wrong Side of Murder Creek” is Zellner’s memoir that tells the story of how he joined ranks with black students who were sitting-in, marching, and sometimes dying to challenge the Southern “way of life” he had been raised on but rejected. This event is open to the general public.
For more information about these events, contact the Office of Institutional Diversity at 843.953.5079, OID@cofc.edu or visit cofc.edu/mlkday/.
The College of Charleston’s School of Education, Health, and Human Performance and Avery Research Center have named Thursday, January 19, 2012 “Moving Beyond Prejudice Day” as part of activities surrounding Martin Luther King, Jr Day. The day will include screenings of the award-winning documentary Prom Night in Mississippi, featuring Morgan Freeman, and discussions with the film’s director, Paul Saltzman. A free public screening and discussion with the director will be held at 5:30 p.m. in Physician’s Auditorium on the College of Charleston campus. The film chronicles the perspective and experiences of Charleston (MS) High School students over a four-month period leading up to the school’s first integrated prom in 2008. For more information, contact Reid Adams at 919.638.5618 or adamsrl@cofc.edu.
