For immediate release: Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. with several events next week.
The celebration will kick off with the annual community and university banquet that recognizes leaders and showcases the talents of UNC students. The banquet, hosted by the MLK Community and University Planning Corporation, will take place at 6 p.m. Jan. 19 at the William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education. Tickets are $25.
Hill Harper, author of the New York Times bestseller and American Library Association Award-winner “Letters to a Young Brother: Manifest Your Destiny,” will be this year’s keynote speaker. The lecture at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 20 at Memorial Hall is free, but tickets are required and can be reserved at memorialhall.unc.edu. The event also includes the presentation of the Martin Luther King Scholarship.
Other events during the week-long celebration include:
- “MLK Rally, March and Worship Service”— 9 a.m. Jan. 20, Franklin Street Post Office, hosted by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro and UNC chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Color People (NAACP)
- “Re/Iterations of Resistance: Moments, Martyrs, Movements Exhibit”—7 p.m. Jan. 21, Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture & History gallery; RSVP to stonecenter@unc.edu or call (919) 962-9001
- “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Free Expression Contest”— 6 p.m. Jan. 22, Stone Center auditorium, hosted by the Black Student Movement and UNC’s Delta Sigma Theta Sorority chapter
- “Intersection Identities and Justice”— 7:30 p.m. Jan. 22, Upendo 1119, SASB North, hosted by the LGBTQ Center, Accessibility Resources and Services, Sexuality and Gender Alliances, and Advocates for Carolina
- “Power of One” Civil Rights and Social Justice Panel—6 p.m. Jan. 23 at Stone Center Hitchcock Room, hosted by UNC’s Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity chapter and the Carolina Women’s Center
- MLK Day of Service— 8:30 a.m. Jan. 25, volunteer gathering at Genome Science Building, Room G100, hosted by Rejuvenating Our Community Through Service (ROCTS)
On Feb. 28, the celebration will continue with the MLK and Black History Month Unity Dinner and Bridge Keynote featuring Cornel West, Princeton professor and author of “Race Matters.” The dinner begins at 5 p.m. at the Stone Center, followed by the 7 p.m. keynote address at Memorial Hall.
Martin Luther King Jr. celebration website: http://diversity.unc.edu/mlk
Diversity and Multicultural Affairs contact: Marco Barker, (919) 843-5525, diversity@unc.edu