Honoring Martin Luther King Jr. — Part 4 of 5









picture disc.


Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Aug. 28, 1963, remains the defining speech of his life. This is a rare photo (shot from the Washington Monument) of the Lincoln Memorial the day that 250,000 people – the largest crowd ever assembled in the nation’s capital at the time — heard one of history’s greatest speeches. The crowd included such global stars as Marlon Brando, Joan Baez and Sidney Portier; and more than 50,000 Caucasians — the largest number of Caucasians ever assembled to hear a black speaker. (Photo from www.daria.no.)

In commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, UNMC Today will feature a series of photos and quotations from the civil rights leader.

“And you know, my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression. There comes a time, my friends, when people get tired of being plunged across the abyss of humiliation, where they experience the bleakness of nagging despair. There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November. There comes a time.”

Martin Luther King Jr., from his speech, “Justice Without Violence,” April 3, 1957

Plan to attend

The 2007 Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemoration, sponsored by UNMC and The Nebraska Medical Center, will be Monday, Jan. 15 from noon to 1 p.m. in the Storz Pavilion on the lower level of Clarkson Tower. The program is free and open to the public.

Speaking at the event will be Valda Boyd Ford, director of the UNMC/The Nebraska Medical Center Community and Multicultural Affairs.

Ford is an internationally-acclaimed educator and strategist on diversity and multicultural initiatives who has extensive experience providing health services at some of the world’s largest refugee camps. She will focus on this aspect of her career and Dr. King’s worldview during her lecture, which is titled, “Extending the Dream: Realizing the Nightmare of Third World Refugees.”

For more information, contact Walter Brooks at 559-5768 or send an e-mail to wbrooks@unmc.edu.