Honoring King
On Monday, January 16, Kenyon will co-sponsor a breakfast from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in the Donoho Recreation Center in the Prince Student Union at the Mount Vernon Nazarene University (MVNU). Kenyon is hosting the event with the Knox County Dr. King Celebration Committee and MVNU.
Kenyon's Associate Provost and Associate Professor of Law and Society Ric Sheffield will present the keynote speech titled "Return to Sender: The Continuing Significance of King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail." The address will relate the struggle for civil rights to the lives of people of color living in the rural towns and villages of America's heartland. "The dream of which Dr. King spoke so eloquently was not reserved for southerners, urban dwellers, nor just those facing immediate and violent reprisals," says Sheffield, who will note the experiences of African Americans who sought to live "the dream" within Knox County, Ohio, and neighboring rural communities.
Motivational speaker Joe Rogers, the former lieutenant governor of Colorado, will present The Dream Alive Program at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 18, in Kenyon's Rosse Hall Auditorium.
The Dream Alive Program is an acclaimed tribute to the memory and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders of the civil rights movement. The live commentary recalls the renowned 1963 March on Washington where King delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech and his final words delivered in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. The program has been described as "electrifying, spellbinding, and touching."
Rogers completed his term as lieutenant governor of Colorado in 2003. He is now a practicing attorney in Colorado, who serves on the seven-member National Commission on the Voting Rights Act.
The breakfast and The Dream Alive Program are open to the public.