The candlelight vigil, hosted by Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, was a march across campus to pay homage to King and his contributions to the civil rights movement. The event featured an address by Robert Wallace, president and CEO of BITHGROUP Technologies, Inc.
On May 23, 1962, nearly 50 years ago, King delivered a speech to seniors in Dartmouth Hall regarding the state of the United States civil rights movement in the United States. A multimedia presentation of King's speech played every hour today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m in Dartmouth 105.
"One day we will win our freedom," King said in the speech. "We will not only win freedom for ourselves, we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process and our victory will be a double victory."
Yesterday's events included the MLK Day of Service, the Student Forum on Global Learning, the Diversity Peer Leadership Program's Social Identities Workshop, Sharing Dreams for the Future and a keynote address by Herman Boone. The Tucker Foundation sponsored this year's service project, held in Collis Common Ground, where participants made quilts for global refugees with Our Savior Lutheran Church and Student Center.
"It's our fourth year here at Dartmouth," Jill Williams, a member of the church, said. "[U.S. President Barack] Obama asked that MLK Day be a day of volunteerism and public service, and we're just doing our part."
At the Student Forum on Global Learning, students reflected on their experiences working and doing research in a global context and the benefits of cross-cultural links. Presentation topics included "Boosting Maternal Health and Reducing Child Mortality," "American Dream or American Illusion: New Threads in the National Tapestry" and "Reality Show: Documenting Cultural Life through Art and Film."
The Social Identities Workshop included an interactive exploration of individual identities and provided a forum for discussion about the relationships between individuals and communities, as well as the ways in which one can claim an identity, according to the College's website.
Sharing Dreams for the Future, sponsored by the Dartmouth Alliance for Children of Color and Women of Color Collective, included activities for children that encouraged them to think about their futures. Every Monday, DACC helps young black children from the Upper Valley interact with other black children and college students, member Jennifer McGrew '13 said.
"For MLK Day, we played them a clip of the I Have a Dream' speech and asked them if they learned about Dr. King in school," McGrew said. "We told them that he made it possible for us to come to Dartmouth."
The group members also painted pictures of their dreams to share with the rest of the children and attended the candlelight vigil together.
This year's keynote address was given by Herman Boone, civil rights activist and coach of the legendary T.C. Williams Titans football team. The team was portrayed in the film "Remember the Titans (2000)" which depicted the 1971 merging of three schools to form the newly-integrated T. C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va. Boone was given the job of head coach over popular white coach Bill Yoast, who became assistant coach. The Titans became one of the best teams in Virginia, achieving a 130 record, and went on to win the state championship, according to Boone.
Professor Jamie Horton said he attended the candlelight vigil in order to "honor the life of one of our greatest activists and human beings."
Kate Huffer '15 attended three Martin Luther King, Jr. Day events for her Writing 5 class and detailed her reactions to them in a written response. She said she decided to watch King's Dartmouth Hall speech because of its connection to the College.
"We read [King's] book Why We Can't Wait' in class," Huffer said. "It was really interesting to see how many of his ideas [in the speech] were the same as in the book and how much he had accomplished over just one and a half years."
Events celebrating the life and work of King will continue throughout the month of January and include a community lunch panel featuring Dartmouth Alumni of the Civil Rights Movement and the Social Justice Awards. The panel, which takes place at noon on Thursday in Collis Common Ground, will feature four alumni sharing their experiences as activists working in the voting registration efforts of the civil rights movement. The awards ceremony, which will take place on Jan. 27, will feature a panel discussion with this year's honorees.
