Throughout his life, Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke about the importance of community. He envisioned a future where people of different backgrounds and races would come together in harmony. This year's celebration of the famed civil rights leader's life focuses on realizing this type of community.
This MLK Day, Jan. 21, has been themed "The Ties that Bind." And for the first time in the 13 years the University has observed the holiday, Durham citizens are involved in the planning efforts.
"Having Durham community members on our committee not only gives our theme more credence, but it also makes us more aware of what is going on in the community," said Judith Ruderman, a member of the MLK planning committee.
City officials invited members of the University to attend and speak Jan. 19 at a ceremony that will open and dedicate a new portion of the MLK Highway in Durham.
Ruderman, vice provost for academic and administrative services, said she sees this gesture as a concrete example of the integration of the two bodies.
"This year, we have made an effort to be more cognizant of what the Durham community is doing," she said.
"Last year, our keynote speaker was from South Africa, and [that] gave the celebration a more worldly theme. This year, the celebration will be much more local."
Sunday's keynote speaker, Myrlie Evers-Williams, will deliver a speech in the Chapel at 4 p.m. Evers-Williams is the widow of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, who was assassinated in 1963. She took on her late husband's racial philosophy and spent many years working for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In 1995, she became the first woman named NAACP chair, a position she held for one year.
Observance preparation has also involved many undergraduates. The undergraduate committee has scheduled a variety of events, including panel discussions, forums and a cultural extravaganza, which will begin this Friday and continue throughout the weekend. Co-chairs Donnel Baird and Pavithra Vasudevan, both juniors, invited Boondocks cartoonist Aaron McGruder to speak in Page Auditorium.
Baird worked with the committee to "push MLK's agenda, which was a vision of society and community." Through the dialogues that take place over the weekend, he hopes to highlight the issues which are and are not present at Duke. He believes this year's observance will be more political than those in past years, given the ongoing American war on terrorism.
To bridge the University and Durham, Duke will also provide bus transportation Monday evening to Ebenezer Church, which will hold a service to celebrate MLK Day. Although students have been invited to attend the service in years past, there were various events on campus at the same time. McGruder has been scheduled to speak later Monday evening to allow students to return from Ebenezer Church.
This year will mark the third year all students will be excused from classes to commemorate the holiday.
"We hope to establish MLK Day as a day that is more valued for its discussions of our triumphs and shortcomings en route to the MLK dream, rather than a day that is appreciated mostly for its lack of classes," Baird said.
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