   The University of Evansville will celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, January 19 with several events, including a re-enactment of the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C., and the William G. and the Rose M. Mays Martin Luther King Jr. Lectureship. On Jan 20, the film Dear White People, will be shown.
LaNeeça R. Williams, UE diversity and equity officer, notes that each Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the University “strives to encourage solidarity on issues of justice, fairness and equality in order that our students enter the world with a global perspective that they can make a change simply by being a part of as well as appreciating the teaching and leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.â€
“This year,†she adds, “is pivotal in reinforcing that in everything that we see across the world from Ferguson to what has recently occurred in Paris. Now is the time for peace and reflection even more on what Dr. King stood for and fought diligently to overcome.â€
The schedule of events is as follows. All events are free and open to the public.
January 19
Noon: UE’s reenactment of the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, leaves from the Bernhardt Atrium, Schroeder School of Business Building. Hot drinks will be served before the March, while a video titled “Why I March†plays.
2:00-5:00 p.m.: The March returns to the Schroeder School of Business Building, for Rosa Parks Bus Reenactment tours. A 20-minute tour takes place every half hour. Dimes will be collected to represent the cost of a bus fare in 1955. (The dimes and other money collected will be donated for bus tokens for the homeless.)
4:00 p.m.: Harlaxton Woodwind Quintet Recital featuring the work of black composers, Wheeler Concert Hall, Krannert Hall of Fine Arts.
7:00 p.m.: William G. and Rose M. Mays Martin Luther King Jr. Lectureship, Eykamp Hall (Room 251), Ridgway University Center. The generosity of William G. and Rose M. Mays funds the keynote speaker during UE’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration.
This year’s speaker is essayist, professor and poet Ramona L. Hyman, who served as speaker for the Alabama Humanities Foundation and poet-in-residence for the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the Huntsville Arts Council. She has a B.A. from Temple University, an M.A. from Andrews University and a PhD from the University of Alabama.
Her topic will be “Let Me Tell You Something About Rosa Parks.†Hyman will discuss the day in 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to relinquish her bus seat to a white man in Alabama, igniting a chain of events that would lead to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Immediately preceding the lecture, The Mays Legacy Award will be presented to Sondra L. Matthews, a UE graduate. Matthews is editor and publisher of Our Times Newspaper.
January 20
7:00 p.m.: The movie Dear White People will be shown in Eykamp Hall (Room 251), Ridgway University Center. This 2014 American satirical film was written and directed by Justin Simien. It focuses on black students attending an American Ivy League college.
For more information on these events, please call 812-488-2413.
