Frye to speak at MLK event

GREENVILLE, NC   (Jan. 6, 2004)   —   In observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, Justice Henry Frye, the first African American elected to the North Carolina General Assembly, and the only black to serve as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, will speak at East Carolina University.

Frye, who served as chief justice from 1999 to 2000, and who received an honorary doctorate from ECU in 2001, will give a lecture in Hendrix Theatre in Mendenhall Student Center at 7 p.m. on Jan. 15, King’s birthday.

Frye’s address is part of activities scheduled by the university in honor of Dr. King. A musical concert and ECU student volunteer assignments at community centers are also scheduled.

On Jan. 19, the national holiday, a candlelight vigil and march will begin at 6 p.m. on top of College Hill. A gospel concert by L.V. Williams and The Williams Family will follow at 7 p.m. in Wright Auditorium. A part of this Charlotte-based professional group’s presentation will be musical selections that highlight popular gospel songs of the 1950s and ’60s civil rights era.

The third component of the celebrations involves ECU student volunteers who will work on Jan. 19 at the Salvation Army, Operation Sunshine and Red Oak Manor.

Dr. David Dennard, associate professor of history and chairman of the MLK Committee, said the combination of events offers the ECU community additional opportunities to observe Dr. King’s 75th birthday and commemorate his special contribution to the national civil rights movement.

“The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is a day ‘on’ not a day ‘off,'” Dennard said. “It’s a day to get involved in some sort of human rights service, not just a day to shop or sleep in.”

All scheduled events at ECU are free and open to the public.