ECU to mark MLK day with Tutu lecture, volunteerism

GREENVILLE, NC – The daughter of famed South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu will visit Greenville in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

Naomi Tutu will speak at 7 p.m., Jan. 11, at Hendrix Theater at East Carolina University’s Mendenhall Student Center. David Dennard, ECU professor of history and MLK committee chair, said that Naomi Tutu’s personal history offers her a unique perspective in addressing racial and human rights issues.

“Ms. Tutu has perceptive insight into the international dimensions of racial oppression, forgiveness and healing, and will challenge us, in ways not unlike her father’s generation, to deepen and continue our search for racial justice and common ground,” Dennard said. “Her’s is a voice that this generation of students, regardless of their color, should hear, need to hear, and must remember as they reflect on the meaning and legacy of Dr. King in 2006.”

In addition to the Tutu lecture, MLK activities will continue on the observed holiday, Jan. 16. Students will participate in a daylong volunteerism effort, organized by ECU’s Volunteer and Service Learning Center. Volunteer venues include: the Boys and Girls Club, Creating Cheer, Hope Lodge and the Marley Fund. Registration forms are available online at: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-studentlife/volunteer/mlk.cfm. Students will sign in at 8 a.m. at Mendenhall Student Center, attend a memorial at 9 a.m. and begin their volunteer projects at 9:45 a.m.

At 6 p.m., Jan. 16, ECU will hold a candlelight vigil and march at College Hill in honor of Dr. King, followed by a 7 p.m. musical performance at ECU’s Hendrix Theater at the Mendenhall Student Center. ECU professors Louise Toppin and Gerald Knight will perform with Gregory Thompson of Johnson C. Smith University, followed by selections from the ECU Gospel Choir, the choir from the Immanuel Baptist Church and ECU choral students.

All events are free and open to the public.