Embracing Change: Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Week slated to celebrate Civil Rights Era

From Tech Today *

HOUGHTON -- Michigan Tech will celebrate the life and contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., during the annual MLK Week event.

The annual celebration consists of four events, which run from Jan. 21-25. This year’s theme focuses events around the changing face of activism.

The 24th annual MLK Banquet will be held Monday, Jan. 21, from 6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union Ballroom. Guest speaker Tricia Rose, Brown University professor, will discuss MLK history and the legacies of the civil rights era.

Gloria Melton, former dean of students, will give the evening’s closing statement; she will speak about her experience attending King’s famed "I Have a Dream" speech.

While tickets for this Banquet were free, unfortunately no more tickets are available.

Also on Monday, Jan. 21, Michigan Tech students and staff will share the message of King’s work with local elementary school children. A group of 20 Tech volunteers will read about the life and work of King to kindergarten through fifth-grade students.

"It’s an exciting event because there’s a really diverse group of Tech students going," said Kellie Raffaelli, assistant director of the Center for Diversity and Inclusion. "In terms of ethnicity and gender, there’s a lot of diversity."

The Rosa Parks Story, a 97-minute film about the civil rights heroine who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person, will be shown  at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 23, in Fisher 135. Admission is free, and concessions will be provided. All are invited to attend.

Throughout the week, a display featuring photos, artifacts and publications from the civil rights era will be on display in the J.R. Van Pelt and Opie Library. Included within the display will be photos from Rosa Parks’s visit to Michigan Tech’s campus in the 1980s.

The week’s events are sponsored by the Black Student Association and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI). For more information, contact CDI at 487-2920.

* Editor's Note: This is a slightly updated version of the article by Danny Messinger, Tech Today web editor, that appeared in Tech Today on Jan. 17, 2013.