Leffler, Warren K, photographer. Martin Luther King Press conf. 1965. March 2. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2016646651/>.
MLK 2024: Your Voice Counts…Use it!
Penn State Behrend will honor the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. with events, service projects, and activities beginning Monday, January 15.
Monday, January 15
Annual Martin Luther King March and Events in Downtown Erie
11:15 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Meet in Reed Wintergarden if planning to travel with the group.
Join the Black Student Union (BSU) and other members of the campus community as they make their way to the City of Erie to participate in its annual MLK March. Everyone will meet in the Reed Union Building’s lobby at 11:15 a.m. and ride an EMTA bus to the march’s site. Individuals are also welcome to drive themselves.
MLK Day of Service
9:30 a.m.–2:15 p.m.
Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus
Students, faculty, and staff will carry on Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy of civic engagement by participating in community service hosted by Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus. Contact Behrend’s Office of Civic Engagement for further details at [email protected] or 814-898-6609.
Wednesday, January 17
Campus Family Brunch and Play
11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m.
(Brunch, 11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m./Performance, noon–1:00 p.m.)
McGarvey Commons, Reed Union Building
Join us for a community brunch featuring award-winning one-man play Incognito: An American Odyssey of Race and Self-Discovery.
Documentary Film: At the River I Stand, The Climax of the Civil Rights Movement
4:00–5:00 p.m.
117 Reed Union Building (Auditorium)
Snacks and refreshments will be provided.
At the River I Stand covers the dramatic climax of the Civil Rights movement that took place in Memphis, Tennessee, in spring 1968. The film skillfully reconstructs the two eventful months that transformed a strike by Memphis sanitation workers into a national conflagration and disentangles the complex historical forces that came together with the inevitability of tragedy at the death of Martin Luther King Jr.
This documentary brings into sharp relief issues that have only become more urgent in the intervening years: the connection between economic and civil rights, debates over strategies for change, the demand for full inclusion of African Americans in American life, and the fight for dignity for public employees and all working people.
"More than any other Civil Rights documentary, this is a deeply emotional, riveting narration of black working-class resistance that speaks to the current crisis and jars our collective memory. To see these determined, dignified sanitation workers and to witness the Black Memphis community's solidarity with the strikers was enough to bring tears."
—Robin D. G. Kelley, Columbia University
All events are free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Office of Educational Equity and Diversity Programs and the Student Activity Fee. Questions may be directed to the Office of Educational Equity and Diversity Programs at [email protected] or 814-898-7101.