Taylor Bembery
Associate Editor
Jackson State University will hold the 45th Annual MLK Convocation on Jan. 17 in the Rose E. McCoy Auditorium to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Margaret Walker Center has announced that Charlayne Hunter-Gault will be the keynote speaker. Hunter-Gault, from Due West, S.C., is a seasoned American journalist with more than 40 years of experience.
In August 2005, she was inducted in the National Association of Black Journalists’ Hall of Fame. She is on the board of the Carter Center, the Peabody Awards, and the Committee to Protect Journalists and is co-chair of the African Media Initiative, a project aimed at promoting the highest ethical standards and business practices as well as quality journalism on the African continent.
Over the years, Hunter-Gault has received numerous awards and accolades including two Emmy Awards and three Peabody Awards, the first for her work on Apartheid’s People, a News Hour series about South African life during Apartheid.
Robert E. Luckett Jr., professor and director of the Margaret W. Alexander Research Center, said: “We’ve been sponsoring MLK convocation at JSU for 45 years. This is the 45th annual convocation so we have been doing it for a long time. It began with Dr. Margaret Walker Alexander who founded the center here at JSU back in 1968 shortly after Dr. King’s assassination.”
He added: “It’s a big convocation where we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s life and legacy. Every year we look for someone with some kind of prize to the civil rights movement that can speak to the importance of Dr. King and activism.”
Luckett stated, “Charlayne Hunter-Gault has always been someone I personally admired. She integrated the University of Georgia in 1961and has perhaps been more famous in the last 40 years as a broadcast journalist. So her name has been on the radar and we have been aware of her for a long time. She seemed like a really good fit. Had conversations with my advisory board at the Margaret Walker Center and we decided to ask her to participate this year. It turns out by circumstance were also lucky that the past 20 to 25 years she was stationed in South Africa and with the timing of Nelson Mandela’s death and the work she did there, it is really nice timing to have her because she might say something about Nelson Mandela as well and has direct knowledge and relationship with him.”
Many JSU students who will be attending the MLK Convocation believe that it is important to honor Dr. King and to keep his legacy alive.
Daryl Williams II, a senior English major from East St. Louis, Ill., believes it is most important that mankind continues to live “The Dream”.
“Attending the MLK Convocation is important because it’s simply a prestigious celebration for such an important figure to not only African-Americans but people worldwide. We must study his philosophies and learn how to implement them and improve on them,” said Williams.
Ashton Nash, a junior mass communications major from Chicago, Ill., said that attending the convocation is a learning experience that is needed for all students.
“I think it is important for students to attend the MLK Convocation to learn about their past, where they come from and learn about those who have been positively affected by MLK and his legacy. We must observe this day in honor of Martin Luther King because of the type of man he was and how he felt about equality, race and the evolvement of our people. We should all learn about humility and become a humanitarian similar to Dr. King,” said Nash.
The MLK Convocation will be followed by the 19th Annual For My People Awards luncheon in the Student Center Ballroom A at 11:45 a.m. Luncheon tickets are $10 and can be purchased through the Margaret Walker Center.
King led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King’s efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech.
On Oct. 14, 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for resisting racial inequality through nonviolence. The campaign for a federal holiday in King’s honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. President Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed on January 20, 1986. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.
JSU students are urged to participate in the MLK Day of Service. The Harden Center for Service is partnering with Keep Jackson Beautiful Saturday, Jan. 18 and Monday, Jan. 20 at various locations thoughout the city of Jackson.
Students can call Eltease Moore for more information and community service hours at 601-979-1762.
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