The University Record, December 10, 1996
Martin Luther King Jr. Day activities
scheduled for Jan. 20
By Bernie DeGroat
News and Information Services
A keynote address by U-M alumna Mary Frances Berry, chairperson of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and musical performances by CeCe Winans and the Sounds of Blackness will highlight the University’s celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day Jan. 20.
“Campaign for a Unified Community of Justice,” the theme of this year’s MLK Symposium, also will feature campuswide panel discussions, community service activities, a unity march and talks by nationally known speakers. In addition, more than 100 unit-sponsored events, including talks by Martin Luther King III and Julian Bond, will commemorate the life of Martin Luther King Jr. throughout January and February.
Berry, who has served on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights since 1980, will deliver the MLK Memorial Lecture at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 20 at Hill Auditorium.
An expert on civil rights law and constitutional history, Berry currently is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania. She also has served as a chancellor and provost at the University of Colorado and has taught history and law at Howard University.
She was the U.S. assistant secretary for education from 1977 to 1980 and has written The Politics of Parenthood, Black Resistance/White Law: A History of Constitutional Racism in America, Long Memory: The Black Experience in America and Why ERA Failed: Politics, Women’s Rights, and the Amending Process of the Constitution.
The MLK Symposium will kick off with a performance by Grammy Award-winning vocalist CeCe Winans at 8 p.m. Jan. 19 at the Power Center. Tickets, which are free, will be available beginning Jan. 8 at the Michigan Union box office or by calling 763-8587.
The Black Student Union’s annual MLK Unity March will follow Berry’s speech at noon Jan. 20 at South University Ave. between Forest St. and Washtenaw Ave. For information, call 747-1067.
During the afternoon, the community service project “Acting on the Dream” will take place 1-7 p.m. at dozens of local and Detroit-area community-based agencies, such as homeless shelters and youth centers. If interested in taking part, call the Project SERVE office at 936-2437 or the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives (OAMI), 936-1055.
The MLK holiday will end with a concert by the internationally renowned Sounds of Blackness, along with the U-M Gospel Chorale, at 8 p.m. at Hill Auditorium. Tickets, $12-$26, are currently available at the University Musical Society box office or by calling 764-2538.
Other MLK Symposium events scheduled include:
A panel discussion on “Affirmative Action in the Academy: Safeguarding the Gains Made,” 3:15-5:15 p.m. Jan. 20 in the Law School’s Hutchins Hall, Room 100.
A panel discussion on “Activism in Backlash Times,” 3-5 p.m. Jan. 21 in Auditorium B, Angell Hall.
A talk by widely read political commentator Manning Marable, professor of history and director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia University, 3 p.m. Jan. 22 in the Michigan League’s Mendelssohn Theater.
A panel discussion on “Peaceful Resolution of Conflict in the Global Village,” at 4-6 p.m. in Auditorium A, Angell Hall.
A talk by Native American activist Dennis Banks, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 28 in the Michigan League’s Mendelssohn Theater.
For more information on MLK Symposium events, call Tara L. Young, OAMI, at 936-1055 or send e-mail to tlyoung@umich.
