Ohio Wesleyan, Delaware Community to Celebrate Martin Luther King Legacy
The 19th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast celebration will be held Jan. 16 at Ohio Wesleyan. Tickets remain available. During the 2011 MLK breakfast celebration (shown here), attendees watched the documentary 'Mighty Times: The Children’s March.' (Photo by John Holliger)
DELAWARE, OHIO – Ohio Wesleyan University and the Delaware County Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee will observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a program exploring “A Time for Justice.” The program will feature events to highlight, celebrate, and continue the King legacy, said Rosalind D. Scott, chair of the celebration committee.
The 2012 celebration will begin with the 27th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day worship service at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, at First Baptist Church, 101 N. Franklin St. The Rev. Tim Chesser of First Baptist Church and the Rev. Tracey Sumner Sr. of Second Baptist Church, 55 Ross St., will discuss “Deceived and Delivered.”
The MLK celebration will continue Monday, Jan. 16, with the 19th annual Martin Luther King Day breakfast celebration on the Ohio Wesleyan campus. The event will be held in the Benes Rooms inside Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave. The breakfast buffet opens at 7:45 a.m., and the program begins at 8:30 a.m.
Individual breakfast tickets are $20, with eight-person table sponsorships available for $160. For reservations, contact Scott at (740) 368-3386 or at rdscott@owu.edu. Table sponsorships help fund Delaware County MLK Scholarships. Since 1990, the Delaware County Martin Luther King Celebration Committee has awarded a total of more than $17,000 in scholarships to county youth.
The breakfast program will feature a showing of the documentary film “A Time of Justice: America’s Civil Rights Movement,” which event organizers say “recalls the crises in Montgomery, Little Rock, Birmingham, and Selma. But, more importantly, it reveals the heroism of individuals who risked their lives for the cause of freedom and equality.”
The celebration of King’s impact on the nation and world will continue Monday on the Ohio Wesleyan campus, when the OWU President’s Commission on Racial and Cultural Diversity sponsors “MLK” activities inspired by the civil rights leader’s initials. The events will include a March, Legacy commemoration, and “Keeping the Dream Alive” academic emphasis.
To commemorate King’s Legacy, the President’s Commission will collaborate with OWU’s Black Men of the Future organization for a noon program in the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center atrium. This program will include readings of King speeches, a message from University Chaplain Jon Powers, and a display of posters featuring inspiring King quotes.
The day will conclude with a short March (or Movement) starting at 5:10 p.m., with walkers marching from Founders’ Plaza in front of Slocum Hall, 75 S. Sandusky St., to the Benes Rooms in Hamilton-Williams Campus Center. Chaplain Powers will kick off the march with a message honoring King’s life and legacy. Closing remarks will be made by program participants who comment on how much progress has been made and what can be done to promote and celebrate diversity every day of the year.
Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities, with more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Located in Delaware, Ohio, just minutes north of Ohio’s capital and largest city, Columbus, the university combines a globally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that translate classroom theory into real-world practice. OWU’s close-knit community of 1,850 students represents 47 states and 57 countries. Ohio Wesleyan was named to the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction, is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” and is included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.