John Lewis Speaks at Morehouse January 21
Congressman John Lewis, one of the original “Big Six” leaders during the heyday of the civil rights movement, will talk about his experiences and today’s challenges at 6p.m. on Thursday, January 21, at Morehouse College’s Ray Charles Performing Arts Center.
“An Evening With Rep. John Lewis” is one of several events the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection is leading in the annual commemoration of the life of King, a 1948 graduate and one of Lewis’s mentors.
“As one of our nation’s great champions of human rights, Congressman John Lewis has led by example,” said Vicki Crawford, director of the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection. “His unwavering courage and dedicated leadership continue to inspire us all. We are delighted that Congressman Lewis will join us this year as we commemorate the 87th birthday of Dr. King.”
That commemoration includes events such as a Community-Wide Interfaith Harmony March and Rally at Morehouse’s iconic King Statue on Sunday, January 17 while on the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday on Monday, January 18, Morehouse students will participate in service projects across Atlanta. (A full schedule can be found at www.morehouse.edu/kingcollection/pdf/2016-King-Calendar.pdf.)
“The enduring message of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is more relevant now than ever,” Crawford said. “At Morehouse College, King’s alma mater, we are proud to honor him on the occasion of the national holiday. Also, very importantly, we embrace King’s values and vision in academic and campus life throughout the year.”
The highlight of the activities will be Lewis’s conversation with David Wall Rice, chairman of the Morehouse Psychology Department.
An Alabama sharecropper’s son, Lewis grew up inspired to be part of the civil rights movement after hearing by radio King’s speeches and his work in the Montgomery bus boycott. Lewis led sit-in lunch counter demonstrations in Nashville, Tennessee, as a student at Fisk University and participated in the Freedom Rides to challenge interstate bus segregation throughout the South. He was beaten many times by angry mobs and arrested by police by standing up to the South’s Jim Crow segregation.
Named chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which he helped form, Lewis at age 23 was an organizer and a keynote speaker at the 1963 March on Washington.
His political career began in 1981 when he was elected to the Atlanta City Council. Five years later, he was elected to Congress where is now the Senior Chief Deputy Whip for the Democratic Party leadership in the House.
Lewis has a slew of honors and awards, including the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented by President Barack Obama in 2010.
Howard Makes the Right Call on WHUT Auction Options
The Howard University Board of Trustees today announced its plans to make broadcast spectrum used for its campus public broadcasting station, WHUT, available in a Federal Trade Commission auction this spring. And while it remains to be seen if WHUT will continue to exist in its current format, the move should show alumni, students, and other stakeholders that the university is taking a responsible, entrepreneurial approach towards the role of the station, and the future of the school.
The FCC auctions give television stations nationwide a chance to sell broadcasting licenses back to the government, which plans to auction the airspace to mobile network companies, which will use it to develop wireless Internet access with faster speeds and greater room for data transfer.
At issue for Howard’s license is the mission of WHUT, a station that since the 1980s has served as one of the nation’s oldest and most active Black-owned television stations. More than just a learning laboratory for students or a public showcase vehicle for campus activities, Channel 32 has always been the DC-Maryland-Virginia region’s premier resource for Black cultural affairs and broadening knowledge of the African Diaspora.
As Norfolk State Basketballer Fights Coma, Community Surrounds with Support
Norfolk State University women’s basketball player Amber Brown remains hospitalized 10 days after being found unresponsive in her dorm room by teammates, but the Spartan community has galvanized to help raise funds and awareness in support of her fight.
HBCU Gameday broke the news on Brown’s illness, which family members say spurred diabetic seizures and a medically-induced coma. Since then, teammates, classmates and other NSU officials have established online and in-game fundraisers to help with Brown’s medical expenses.
