Coretta Scott King will be the keynote speaker at the 20th annual celebration at MIT of the birth of her late husband, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The commemoration of Dr. King's life will begin at 8pm Saturday, Jan. 15, with the third annual presentation of the musical tribute to Dr. King, "Journey Into a Dream," by a group headed by jazz vocalist Semenya McCord. The performance will be in Kresge Auditorium.
Mrs. King will speak on Friday, Feb. 11, also in Kresge Auditorium, following the traditional silent march of MIT community members from Lobby 7 across Massachusetts Avenue to the auditorium. MIT President Charles M. Vest and his wife, Rebecca M. Vest, will lead the silent march with Mrs. King.
In the past, MIT's annual memorial activities celebrating Dr. King have been held in January, near the date of his birth, Jan. 15, 1929. This year, however, the keynote address has been scheduled for February, which is Black History Month, and will occur during the term, when all students are on campus and more will have the opportunity to hear Mrs. King.
Dr. King, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, was the founder and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He led the 382-day bus boycott in Montgomery, AL, which resulted in the 1956 US Supreme Court decision that racial segregation on public transportation was unconstitutional. He was assassinated in Memphis, TN, on April 4, 1968.
Mrs. King is president of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and of the Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation, both in Atlanta.
The silent march will begin forming in Lobby 7 at 11:50am and begin promptly at 12:10pm.
Joining President and Mrs. Vest and Mrs. King in leading the march will be the cochairmen of the Planning Committee for the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Activities, Associate Professor Leo Osgood of the Department of Athletics and Professor Michael S. Feld of the Department of Physics.
A version of this article appeared in the January 5, 1994 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 38, Number 18).
