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CONTACT: Susie P. Gonzalez
Dec. 17, 2004
Trinity University to Celebrate 10 Years of Campus Observance of the Life of Martin Luther King Jr.
SAN ANTONIO - Trinity University will honor the late Martin Luther King Jr. with a discussion by three civil rights activists who can provide a historical context of race relations and share their personal experiences with the movement. Their presentation will mark the 10th year for Trinity University to hold a Martin Luther King Commemorative Lecture. The panel discussion will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19, in Laurie Auditorium on the Trinity campus. It is free and open to the public.
The three speakers are Minnijean Brown-Trickey, one of the first nine African American students to cross the threshold of Little Rock Central High to achieve integration; Diane Nash, co-founder of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC;) and the Rev. Claude Black, a senior statesman, historian, and long-time pastor (now retired) of Mount Zion Baptist Church in San Antonio. The moderator will be Arturo Madrid, the Murchison Distinguished Professor of Humanities in the modern languages and literature department at Trinity.
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Minnijean Brown-Trickey |
Ms. Brown-Trickey and eight other black Little Rock teenagers walked into a previously whites-only high school in 1957, marking one of the defining moments of the Civil Rights Movement. As one of the "Little Rock Nine," she defied the governor of Arkansas and armed troops to attend classes. She is an advocate of social change, diversity, and the battle against discrimination and racism. After attending college in Illinois, she moved to Canada with her husband, a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War. She earned a master's degree in social work and returned to the United States in 1999 to serve as the deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Interior in the Clinton administration.
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Diane Nash |
As a student at Fisk University in 1959, Ms. Nash became a prominent leader in the effort to desegregate the lunch counters in Nashville, Tenn., through sit-ins. She also helped coordinate the Freedom Ride from Birmingham, Ala., to Jackson, Miss., in 1961.While pregnant with her first child, she served 30 days in jail in South Carolina and was arrested for civil rights activities many times throughout the South. She was director of the student arm of the SNCC and was appointed by President Kennedy to a national committee that promoted passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Her story was featured in the award-winning Public Broadcasting System documentary Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years - 1954 to 1965.
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Rev. Claude Black |
Mr. Black is a former San Antonio City Councilman and commissioner of the San Antonio Development Agency. He is a longtime champion of civil rights for African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and the poor. Mr. Black grew up in a time when children of different races did not attend the same schools, diners of different colors weren't always allowed to eat in the same restaurants, and jobs were granted on the basis of race. As a teenager, he became involved with the Youth Council of the NAACP and sought to bring about changes. Until he heard of Dr. King, he believed violence was the only way to transform society. Mr. Black was minister at Mount Zion Baptist Church for 49 years, often using his pulpit to address civil rights. He retired in 1998 but remains active in community events.
Trinity has honored the memory of Dr. King, a slain civil rights leader, for decades and launched a speaker series in 1994. Students affiliated with the Trinity Multi-Cultural Network and members of the Black Student Union, as well as Trinity faculty and staff members, plan to join other residents of San Antonio in the annual MLK March through the community's East Side on Jan. 17.
On the night of the lecture at Trinity, a sign language interpreter will be available. Other requests for special accommodations should be directed to Laurie Auditorium at (210) 999-8119 at least 48 hours before the event.
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| Minnijean Brown-Trickey | |
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| Minnijean Brown-Trickey was one of the first nine African American students to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. As one of the “Little Rock Nine,” she defied the governor of Arkansas and armed troops to attend classes. | |
| Diane Nash | ||
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Diane Judith Nash, right, a Fisk University student, makes a statement that defendants in the race demonstration cases have decided not to pay fines levied against them as a matter of "moral principle." Nash was one of 77 defendants in the trial in Nashville City Court who were arrested for refusing to vacate downtown lunch counters. |
Fisk University junior Diane Nash, left, chairwoman of the student protest group, and the Rev. Kelly Smith, pastor of the First Baptist Church and president of the Nashville Christian Leadership Council, confer before releasing a statement to reporters on their views of the sit-in demonstrations. |
Students Matthew Walker, left, Peggy Alexander, Diane Nash and Stanley Hemphill eat lunch at the previously segregated counter of the Post House Restaurant in the Greyhound bus terminal. This marked the first time since the start of the sit-ins that blacks have been served at previously all-white counters. |
Other Campus Activites
Make it a Day On & Not a Day Off!!!
On Monday, January 17, 2005, we will march with the local and national community to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and recognize the great sacrifice that members of our nation have made in the name of freedom and equality.
Additional Information About Martin Luther King, Jr.
COMMEMORATION SITES
- The King Center in Atlanta, Ga.
THE MAN
- A Biography from the Lucidcafe Library
HIS TIMES
PLACING DR. KING'S LIFE IN HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE
- Selections from The African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture
- King's 19th- Century Predecessors in the American Civil Rights Movement
- Ex-Slave Narrative Collection
- A Sociological Look at the African American Experience--Past and Present
KING'S LEGACY, NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY
HIS WRITINGS
- Primary and secondary documents from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project at Stanford
- Letter From a Birmingham Jail
MEMORABLE QUOTES
"And I say to you today that I will stand by nonviolence ... And the other thing is that I am concerned about a better world. I'm concerned about justice. I'm concerned about brotherhood. I'm concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about these, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate. Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that."
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
"Nonviolent action, the Negro saw, was the way to supplement, not replace, the process of change. It was the way to divest himself of passivity without arraying himself in vindictive force."
"Unearned suffering is redemptive."
"I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of nuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality."
"I have a dream..."
"Because I have seen the mountaintop.... I may not get to the promised land with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will."
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