Events, Service Activities Highlight Martin Luther King Jr. Day

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated on Jan. 16 this year

Business and academic leaders will help the University of Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas community observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Five days of activities are scheduled to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. King. Events include the annual MLK Day March and Vigil and the 16^th annual Recommitment Banquet on Monday, Jan. 16.

The theme of this year’s celebration is “Service to many … leads to greatness,” and that theme will be brought to life at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 14, with a community service project at the Fayetteville City Hospital. This event is sponsored by the NWA Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Planning Committee and the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

The annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan.15, at the St. James Baptist Church, 764 W. North St. in Fayetteville. The featured speaker is Kevin Dedner, team leader for state and local policy at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center in Little Rock, and a University of Arkansas graduate. This event is also sponsored by the NWA MLK Planning Committee and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday begins with two MLK Dream Keepers’ community service programs: a Youth Prayer Breakfast at 8 a.m. at the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House at the University of Arkansas; and Youth Activities, starting at 9:30 a.m. at the university Health, Recreation and Physical Recreation Building. These events are sponsored by the NWA MLK Planning Committee, University of Arkansas Intramural Sports and Razorback Athletics.

The city of Fayetteville will present its annual MLK Jr. Brotherhood Award, which goes to a city employee who exhibits the qualities of justice, equality and brotherhood exemplified by King. The presentation will be made at 11:15 a.m. at the Walton Arts Center parking lot on Dickson Street as community members gather for the annual MLK Day march.

The march will begin at 11:30 a.m., and marchers will walk from Dickson Street to the Verizon Ballroom in the University of Arkansas Union. In case of bad weather this event will be held in the Verizon Ballroom. These events are sponsored by the city of Fayetteville and the NWA MLK Planning Committee.

The traditional noon vigil will be held in the Verizon Ballroom, and speakers will include students and university leaders. The keynote speaker will be Dedra Dugan, vice president of the People division of Sam’s Club. The vigil ceremony is sponsored by the university’s Associated Student Government and the Black Student Association.

At 2 p.m. Arvest Bank will sponsor a program honoring King that will be held in the downtown bank building on the Fayetteville Square. The main speaker will be Tamla Lewis, associate general counsel at the University of Arkansas.

Three speakers are featured in the final event of the day, the 16^th annual Recommitment Banquet, starting at 7 p.m. at the Fayetteville Town Center. Marta Collier is an associate professor of childhood education in the curriculum and instruction department of the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas. Her research focuses on literacy and she has served as vice president of the Northwest Arkansas Reading Council and a member of the International Reading Association, National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Arkansas Reading Association.

Trina Madry is a long-time member of the management team at Procter and Gamble. She is currently the senior human resources manager for the company’s Wal-Mart Global Customer Team and is working on a master’s degree in human resource development through the online program with the College of Education and Health Professions.

Byron Winston received his master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Arkansas and is now an instructor in the geosciences department in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

The NWA MLK Planning Committee is sponsoring the Recommitment Banquet and will present its annual community awards as well as its Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarships, which are given to high school, college and graduate students.

Tickets for the banquet are $25 for adults and $15 for students and can be reserved on the committee’s website at http://www.nwamlk.org/banquet.html.  

The university’s Volunteer Action Center will sponsor the third annual MLK Day of Service from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, in the Connections Lounge of the Arkansas Union. Ten local non-profit agencies will hold a community service fair and members of the campus community can earn a free T-shirt by participating in service activities such as making “Thank You” cards for the Fayetteville Animal Shelter, making sandwiches for Seven Hills Homeless Center or packing homework kits for Big Brothers Big Sisters of NWA.

The final event of the week will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, in the Donald W. Reynolds Center, when producer/director Sharon La Cruise presents a screening of her PBS documentary Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock. La Cruise will discuss the social and historical issues surrounding the fight to integrate Little Rock public schools in 1957, as well as the work that went in to making this documentary. The screening is being sponsored by the University Libraries and the university Office of Diversity Affairs.