Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The WCU community gathers annually to celebrate and commemorate the life and legacy
of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Our focus during the week long celebration is the concept
of community. Dr. King once said, 'We know that to bring justice, love, and friendship,
we must build strong communities that foster these things.' We encourage you to consider
these words and your role in building a strong community here at WCU and beyond.
The 2021 celebration will look a little different due to COVID and the importance
of keeping our students, staff and faculty safe. The week of face to face events,
including the march, will be held in late February, during Black History Month, instead
of the week of the national holiday in January. Several virtual events, including
a commemorative website, NAACP collaboration event, and keynote speaker will be held
in January as well.
2021 Keynote Speaker
Michael Eric Dyson is one of the nation’s greatest thinkers, one of its most distinguished
writers, one of its most renowned orators, one of its most celebrated cultural critics,
and one of its most penetrating media commentators. The Georgetown sociology professor
— who has also taught at Brown, Chapel Hill, Columbia, DePaul and the University of
Pennsylvania — has twice won the prestigious NAACP Image Award, has won the American
Book Award, and has been cited as one of the most influential and powerful black Americans.
Dyson has written 19 books, many of them bestsellers, including his latest, the New
York Times bestselling Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America, which the
Times called “one of the most frank and searing discussions of race...a deeply serious,
urgent book, which should take its place in the tradition of Baldwin’s The Fire Next
Time and King’s Why We Can’t Wait.”
Dyson has routinely appeared on nearly every major media outlet and show, from Meet
The Press to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, from All Things Considered to Fresh
Air, from PBS NewsHour to Real Time With Bill Maher, and from Tavis Smiley to Charlie
Rose. Dyson’s influence on pop culture has led to him being cited in several rap lyrics,
in being a clue in the New York Times Sunday puzzle, and in being requested by Beyonce
to pen the foreword to her monumental Collector’s Edition How To Make Lemonade Box
Set.
The ordained Baptist minister, former church pastor, former gang member, former factory
worker, and longtime social activist, is perhaps summed up best by writer Nathan McCall,
who calls Dyson “a street fighter in suit and tie.”
Celebration Schedule of Events
Monday, January 18, 2021
MLK Jr. Commemorative Website
Created to virtually honor and observe the MLK Jr. holiday, January 18th, 2021, this
virtual space includes an interactive and informative historical timeline of the events
leading up to and during the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
MLK Jr. Commemorative Website
Monday, January 18, 2021
NAACP zoom event
2:00pm - 3:30pm
The Jackson County NC chapter of the NAACP, along with Reconcile Sylva, Down Home
NC, Change NC and Indivisible Common Ground WNC will be sponsoring a Zoom event honoring
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Please join us for a celebration of the life and vison
of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr in a virtual presentation and day of service. You
can join us at the Jackson NAACP YouTube Live Channel or on Facebook Live.
We will have a Cherokee land acknowledgement by Sky Sampson (Director, WCU Cherokee
Center), Opening Comments from Dr. Enrique Gómez (NAACP secretary) as well as statements
by Dr. Brandi Hinnant-Crawford (WCU associate professor, Department of Human Services),
Ricardo Nazario y Colón (Chief Diversity Officer at WCU and Chair of the Governor’s
Advisory Council on Hispanic/Latino Affairs), Dean Paulk (Assistant Director, WCU
Intercultural Affairs), Dr. David Walton (WCU Director of African American Studies),
and new Jackson NAACP President and WCU Intercultural Affairs Director, Dr Dana Patterson.
Email jcnaacp54@gmail.com to receive instructions to join this event online. The public
is welcome to join this special event.
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Keynote Speaker, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson
6:00 - 8:00 pm
Virtual
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson
The North Carolina Cultural Consortium, a colllaboration of four NC system universities'
multicultural centers, will bring the renowned Dr. Michael Eric Dyson to speak virtually.
on Tuesday, January 26th, 2021. Zoom 'doors' will open at 6pm with Dr. Dyson begining
at 6:30pm. Registration for the event is required.
