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The University will commemorate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. with a number of events beginning Jan. 18.
The events will mark the 25th consecutive year that the University has held a formal program to pay tribute to the late civil rights leader.
King Day activities will begin with a commemorative breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Jan. 18 in the Zone at Williams-Brice Stadium. The featured speaker will be AME Bishop Fred James, a friend of King who retired to Columbia after a career as an ecumenical theologian, advocate for fair housing, and a proponent of civil rights. The Rev. Carl Wells, director of the University's Access and Equity Program and pastor of Zion Chapel Baptist Church No. 1 in Columbia, and the Women of Strength, a local gospel group, will provide the music.
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| Bishop Fred James |
The breakfast is open to all faculty, staff and students, as well as to the public. Cost of the breakfast is $8 per person and $2 for Carolina students. Tickets for the breakfast are available at the Carolina Coliseum box office and the Russell House information desk. Shuttle service to Williams-Brice will be provided for University employees from the Russell House and from 743 Greene Street, leaving at 6:45 a.m. and returning to those locations after the event.
Activities on Jan. 21 will begin with the 11th-annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, sponsored by Carolina Service Council, Community Service Programs, and the Department of Student Life. The Day of Service will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
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| Stephen Morrison |
More than 450 Carolina students, faculty, and staff are expected to volunteer at local nonprofit organizations, including Hope World Wide, Reliant Hospice, and the Salvation Army. Volunteers will meet at 9:30 a.m. at the Russell House for check-in and an opening ceremony honoring King. Transportation and lunch will be provided.To register online for the Day of Service, go to www.sa.sc.edu/
communityservice/mlk.htm.
Following the Day of Service, the University's Black Law Students Association and the MLK Committee will sponsor a program at 3:30 p.m. in the School of Law Auditorium. Stephen G. Morrison, a partner of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, in the firm's Columbia office, will give the keynote address. Morrison practices in the areas of technology law and litigation, business liability, product liability, and securities litigation. Committed to advancing legal education, Morrison, since 1982, has been an adjunct professor in the School of Law, where he teaches courses in legal writing and trial advocacy.
An advocate for the poor, Morrison has been chair of the Richland County Public Defender Corporation Board. He also is co-lead counsel for South Carolina's poorest and most isolated children in a legal action seeking to require the state of South Carolina to provide a constitutionally adequate educational opportunity to every child, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or geography. His work was recognized by the United Black Fund of the Midlands, which awarded him the Judge Waites Waring Humanitarian Award, and by the National Urban League, which presented him an award for outstanding leadership in championing equal opportunity.
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| Doc McKenzie & The Hi-Lites |
The program is open to the public.
A recep-tion will follow.
Doc McKenzie & The Hi-Lites will be the featured performers at this year's annual MLK Gospel Unity Fest set for 6:30 p.m. Jan. 21 in the Koger Center. The Lake City gospel group has won numerous American Gospel Quartet Convention awards, including Quartet of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. They also received the Blockbuster Gold Cup and the Johnson/Blair Award, the highest award in gospel music. The G.A.P. Choir of Northeast Columbia and Revelations, a local quartet, also will perform at the gospel fest.
The Rev. Robert Howell, senior pastor at Bethany United Methodist Church in Summerville, the largest Methodist Church in South Carolina, will be the guest speaker. A Carolina graduate, Howell earned his master of divinity degree from Duke University and his doctor of ministry from Drew University.
Tickets are $10 and are available at the Carolina Coliseum box office and the Russell House information desk.
For more information about the University's King celebration, go to hr.sc.edu/king2008.html.
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Martin Luther King Jr., 1929-1968
