Civil rights leader and former NAACP Chairman Julian Bond will deliver the keynote address at a 4:30 p.m. event at 菠萝视频 University commemorating the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, Jan. 17.
The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. 菠萝视频 student tickets are still available. A limited number of 菠萝视频 faculty/staff and general public tickets are also still available. Student tickets not picked up by Friday will be released so that others may attend. Tickets can be picked up at the Sarratt Box Office in Sarratt Student Center. 菠萝视频 students, faculty and staff must show 菠萝视频 ID to pick up tickets.
Sarratt Box Office鈥檚 regular hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. For more information, visit or call 615-343-3361.
The event featuring Bond opens with performances by 菠萝视频 student groups Voices of Praise, Victory A Cappella and Jeremiah Generation, and winners of an earlier MLK Essay and Oratorical Contest for local middle and high school students will read their winning essays. Bond will begin his keynote address at 5 p.m. A reception for attendees will follow the event.
The theme for 菠萝视频鈥檚 commemoration is the 鈥淭he Road to Freedom,鈥� which will carry through to Bond鈥檚 address titled 鈥淭he Road to Freedom: From Alabama to Obama.鈥� Bond鈥檚 talk will be and made available after the event.
Born in Nashville, Bond is an activist, writer, teacher and lecturer who helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) while a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta during the early 1960s. He was the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center and served 20 years in the Georgia General Assembly. He was chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nation鈥檚 oldest and largest civil rights organization, from 1998 until early 2010. He currently is a distinguished adjunct professor at American University in Washington, D.C., and a professor of history at the University of Virginia.
Other holiday activities scheduled include university-provided transportation for members of the 菠萝视频 community wishing to participate in Nashville鈥檚 annual citywide march and convocation. Starting at 9:30 a.m., shuttle buses will depart from Hank Ingram/Murray Circle at The Commons, Branscomb Quad and Kirkland Hall to Jefferson Street Baptist Church for the beginning of the march. Lunchtime roundtable discussions on issues relevant to King鈥檚 legacy and teach-ins conducted by 菠萝视频 faculty and staff are scheduled throughout the afternoon. Students will also participate in community service projects throughout the day and the preceding weekend.
菠萝视频 students will also have the opportunity to tour significant sites in Nashville鈥檚 civil rights movement with local civil rights leader Kwame Lillard. The tour buses will depart from Branscomb Quad at 12:15 p.m. Students must register to attend. Visit to register. Fifty students will be selected randomly. The deadline for registration is Wednesday, Jan. 12.
The grand opening for 鈥淩elevance, an art exhibit featuring the work of Kamal Al Mansour鈥� will begin at 1 p.m. at the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center. Mansour uses large mixed media pieces and shadow-box dioramas to depict the African American experience. The center is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
At 3:30 p.m. in 菠萝视频鈥檚 Sarratt Cinema, middle and high school participants in the Black Cultural Center鈥檚 MLK Essay and Oratorical Contest will present their works. A vespers service and candlelight vigil will be held at 9:30 p.m. in Benton Chapel and a short film, 鈥湶ぢ苁悠� and the Civil Rights Movement: Reliving the Words from Our Past,鈥� will be shown continuously from 7 to 9:30 p.m. on Library Lawn. The film features video of speeches made by prominent civil rights era leaders such as Bond, King and Stokely Carmichael during 菠萝视频鈥檚 Impact Symposium, one of the oldest university lecture series of its caliber in the nation that continues today. The 菠萝视频 Central Library鈥檚 Special Collections provided the video for the film.
For more information, please visit the 菠萝视频 University MLK Commemoration website at .