Byllye Avery, founding president of the National Black Women's Health Project, capped off the events celebrating the birthday of slain civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. with a speech on her experiences as an activist.
Avery, a women's health advocate who Acting College President James Wright called a "dreamer and activist" is a fellow at the Harvard University School of Heath.
Working without notes or a podium, Avery took the audience on a journey through the psyches of her patients, many of whom are black and lack self-love.
"It's hard to love anything, if you don't know who you are," she said.
Avery said she found out early that the most important things one can do with a patient is to keep talking to them and to leave the lines of communication open.
"We have to take the risk to talk about the realities of our lives and learn how people are really doing," Avery said. "We need to come together and tell our story. Listening is a precious commodity and attention is healing."
Avery gave examples of how pervasive this "psychological depression" has affected the nation, singling out the case of the South Carolina woman who killed her two children.
Avery said problems like these could infiltrate a "nation of confused priorities."
Closing her speech, Avery said it is everyone's responsibility to decry racism wherever they may find it.
"You can't change the world. You can only change yourself," Avery said.
The program began with a invocation led by James Breeden, dean of the Tucker Foundation.
James Hunter '95, president of the Afro-American Society and Student Assembly President Rukmini Sichitiu '95 also spoke at the event, which was moderated by Associate Dean of Freshmen Anthony Tillman.
In his brief speech, Hunter said King presented a "recipe for the betterment of mankind."
Sichitiu saw King's dream as "something that is very alive today."
She said the struggle for justice is not something one could do occasionally, but a struggle that needed to be combated week-to-week, day-to-day.
The College Gospel Choir provided the evening's music.
The service in Rollins Chapel highlighted a weekend of events including the a capella group Sweet Honey in the Rock and reflections of the life of King presented by Dartmouth students at Cutter-Shabazz Hall.
The series of events was titled "Civil Rights for the Twenty-First Century: New Voices of Freedom."
