ECU sets programs to remember MLK

East Carolina University will commemorate the birthday of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with public programs that include a candlelight march and speech by a North Carolina attorney on Monday, Jan. 20, and a presentation about the National Civil Rights Museum on Wednesday, Jan. 22.

This year’s theme is “MLK Remembered: A Celebration of the Life, Work and Achievement of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”

The march and candlelight vigil will begin at 6 p.m. in the area near the residence halls on College Hill Drive. The procession of marchers will move from College Hill to the theater at Mendenhall Student Center, where there will be music performed by the ECU Gospel Choir. Bernadine Ballance of Warrenton, an attorney, will give the featured address.

Mrs. Ballance is a 1968 ECU graduate. She currently serves as a commissioner of the North Carolina Industrial Commission. Her husband, Frank Ballance, is also an attorney and a member of the North Carolina Senate.

The program on Wednesday is at 7 p.m. in Mendenhall Student Center’s Great Room. The featured speaker is Juanita Moore, the executive director of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn.

Ms. Moore has directed the operations of the museum since its opening in 1991. The museum is located at the former Lorraine Motel, where the famous civil rights leader was slain.

In her presentation, she will discuss the museum’s preservation of the legacy of the civil right movement and will describe some of the broader issues of human rights.

The programs on Monday and Wednesday are under the sponsorship of the Student Union Cultural Awareness Committee, the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the Ledonia Wright African-American Cultural Center, Allied Blacks for Leadership and Equality and the MLK Observance Committee. The public is invited to attend.