Trinity University to Celebrate Legacy of
Martin Luther King, Jr.

SAN ANTONIO — Author and journalist A'Lelia Bundles, who penned a best-selling biography of her great-great-grandmother as a pioneer in the modern hair care industry, will highlight Trinity University's observance of the life of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. In a speech scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 21, in Laurie Auditorium, Ms. Bundles will discuss “What We Owe Martin Luther King Jr.”

Trinity University also will hold another event in memory of Dr. King. The youth choir of Antioch Baptist Church will present a gospel concert to celebrate the leader's legacy at 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, in the Stieren Theater on campus. Both Ms. Bundles' lecture and the gospel concert are free and open to the public. No tickets are required.

Ms. Bundles is director of talent development for ABC News in Washington and New York. She was deputy bureau chief of ABC News in Washington from 1996-99 after working 20 years as a network television producer at ABC News and NBC News. As a producer with ABC's “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings,” Ms. Bundles worked closely with anchorwoman Carole Simpson and other correspondents. Among her assignments while working at NBC News from 1976-89 in New York, Washington, Atlanta, and Houston were the Rev. Jesse Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign, the 1984 Democratic Convention, the Atlanta youth murders, and several hurricanes.

Her 2001 book, “On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker,” chronicles Ms. Walker's unprecedented work in the development of hair products for African-American women. Ms. Bundles has lectured about Mrs. Walker at libraries, conferences, and educational institutions across the United States. She was instrumental in convincing the U.S. Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp in 1998 honoring Ms. Walker as part of the Black Heritage Series.

Ms. Bundles is president of the Radcliffe College Alumnae Association, vice chair of the Madame Walker Theatre Center of Indianapolis, chair of the national advisory board of the Madame Walker Spirit Awards, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy. She also serves on the advisory boards of the Radcliffe Quarterly, the Women of Washington, the Schlesinger Library for Women's History, the Harvard Club of Washington, and the National Women's Hall of Fame. In addition, she has co-chaired the Talent Search for Young Black Writers sponsored by the Metropolitan Washington Links Club and has been a visiting faculty member at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

Among her awards are a du Pont Gold Baton Award for News, an Emmy for news, a National Women's Political Caucus EMMA, and an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation for a young adult biography about Ms. Walker.

Ms. Bundles graduated magna cum laude from Harvard/Radcliffe College and is a member of the Alpha Iota chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard College. She received a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

She collects kaleidoscopes and African-American memorabilia and lives in Alexandria, Va.

For more information contact Susie P. Gonzalez at Susie.Gonzalez@trinity.edu or (210)999-8406