The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in Delaware, Ohio will celebrate “One Humanity” during this year’s week long celebration.
The 24th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day worship service will kick-off festivities at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Asbury United Methodist Church on West Lincoln Avenue in historic Northwest Delaware. This year’s service will feature youth programming to help Delaware’s youngest residents become more involved in learning about, celebrating, and emulating the King legacy, said Rosalind Scott, chair of the celebration committee.
“It is important for them to learn that the power of their convictions and commitment toward injustice and inequality can bring about change regardless of their age,” Scott said, according to an OWU press release. “We hope to awaken and inspire coalition-building between racial and cultural groups promoting and embracing diversity and the realization that we are just ‘One Humanity!’”
During the service, Delaware City Schools students will display original artwork depicting the theme and students in Jayne Marcum‘s third-grade class at Smith Elementary School will perform “Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-In,†a reading theater presentation.
Speakers at the worship service will include Bishop Judith Craig, bishop-in-residence and visiting professor of church leadership at Methodist Theological School in Ohio, and Florine Jordan-Gray, a 1995 Ohio Wesleyan graduate and local community leader. Jordan-Gray and her husband, George, operated the former AL-EVA’s Learning Center, which tutored and mentored local teenagers.
The celebration will continue on Monday with the 16th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast celebration at 8 a.m. in Ohio Wesleyan’s Hamilton-Williams Campus Center’s Benes Rooms. The Rev. Dr. Vergel L. Lattimore III of Methodist Theological School in Ohio will serve as keynote speaker.
Additional “One Humanity!†observances on the Ohio Wesleyan campus will include the following events, coordinated by the President’s Commission on Racial and Cultural Diversity. Unless otherwise noted, all events will take place in Hamilton-Williams Campus Center. All events are free and open to the public.
Monday
- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. – Local shops will display and sell wares throughout the Atrium and lower-level of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center.
- Noon – Dale W. Larson, Ph.D., assistant professor of economics, will discuss the state of the economy and its impact on 2009 graduates, in Benes Room B.
- 6:30 p.m. – The Bravo-Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization will present “Shades of Discrimination,†addressing issues of importance to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community, in Benes Room B.
Tuesday
- 10 a.m. – Community viewings of the Barack Obama presidential inauguration will be held simultaneously in the Crider Lounge of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center and in the Internet Café of Beeghly Library, 43 Rowland Ave.
- 6:30 p.m. – Emmanuel K. Twesigye, Ph.D., professor of religion and black world studies, will discuss “President Barack Obama and Dr. M.L. King’s Dream: Myth and Reality,†in Benes Room B.
Wednesday
- Noon – Judylyn S. Ryan, Ph.D., associate professor of English and black world studies, will explore the changing attitudes toward interracial relationships, including how and why such marriages have gained acceptance and what, if anything, this tells us about race relations in America, in Benes Room B.
- 6:30 p.m. – The Improve Coffee Café will present “Diversity Training Through Drama,†facilitated by Karen Fasheun, diversity/inclusion coordinator for Time Warner Cable, and featuring Ohio Wesleyan performing arts students, in Benes Room B.
Thursday
- Noon – Minister Eric Marshall of Morning Star Tabernacle will discuss the responsibilities, privileges, and challenges of being male, in Benes Room B.
- 6:30 p.m. – Ohio Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff along with members of the Delaware community will present “Stars In Our Midst,†a program of vision, hope, and dreams incorporating music, dance, and other means of expressing diversity as well as “One Humanity!†in Benes Room B.
Individual breakfast tickets are $20, with eight-person table sponsorships available for $160. For reservations, contact Scott at (740) 368-3386.
Program details are tentative and subject to change. For the latest Martin Luther King Jr. and “One Humanity!†events, including times and locations, visit www.owu.edu/mlk.
