US Honors Dr. King's Legacy With Special Assembly

Students and faculty gathered in Benjamin Hall the morning of January 13 to observe the 94th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The event was organized by Diversity Club advisor, Ms. Rachelle Mays, and hosted impressively by club officers Micah Mays '23 and Jacob Cosby-Mosley '24. 

 

Following a brief biographical sketch of Dr. King, the chorus, under the direction of Kirkland Austin, performed Ukuthula, An African Prayer for Peace. After a beautiful musical interlude, history teacher Mr. Kenneth Posner introduced special guest, Dr. Christopher Strain, Professor of History and American Studies at FAU's Wilkes Honors College. Dr. Strain focuses on recent US history and African-American studies. In his remarks, he looked at the origins of the King holiday and also at the qualities (toughness, hard questioning, and a certain orneriness) that complemented King's spectacular writing and oratory skills to make him such a formidably successful leader.

 

Kelvin Rolle '23 then spoke eloquently about his community work, in light of Dr. King's birthday being one of two National Days of Service (September 11's Patriot Day is the other), before Mr. Carr closed the assembly with his own remarks.