January 8, 1998

Middlebury College Celebrates the
Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement
and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be
able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men
and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will
be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual,
“Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free
at last.” - Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have A Dream”
(1963)

Middlebury College will join the rest of the nation
this month to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a series
of events and activities that will evoke the enduring spirit of
the great civil rights leader. College events are free and open
for all to attend.

Inspired by Dr. King’s dream for a better nation,
Middlebury College students will take part in the Martin Luther
King Day of Service by organizing volunteer service projects in
the community on Saturday morning, Jan. 17. Although the King
Day of Service, signed into law by President Clinton in 1994,
is nationally observed on Monday, Jan. 19, Middlebury student
leaders hope that choosing Saturday for the day of activities
will allow more people to participate in the service projects
for local not-for-profit organizations. A variety of activities,
from storm damage clean-up to serving meals, painting, and folding
clothes are planned for the Addison County Community Action Group,
Addison County Humane Society Shelter, Project Independence Elderly
Services, Porter Medical Center’s Round Robin Thrift Shop, and
St. Mary’s Outreach Ministry. Anyone interested in joining the
students on a project or scheduling an additional project may
contact student organizer Randy Cofield at 443-3581.

On Sunday, Jan. 18 at 11:00 a.m., there will be a
special service at Mead Chapel, featuring the PALANA Kids, a group
of elementary and junior high school students of multi-racial
families in the greater Middlebury area who interact throughout
the year with Middlebury College’s PALANA (Pan African-Latino-Asian-Native
American) Center. During the service, the PALANA kids will offer
songs and readings to commemorate Dr. King’s life.

At 7:30 p.m., Montgomery to Memphis, a 1970
release by the Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation, will be shown
in Room 110 of the Sunderland Langauge Center on College Street.
Produced by Ely Landau, whose work on the film earned an Academy
Award nomination in 1970, Montgomery to Memphis is considered
to be the definitive film documentary of Dr. King’s contribution
to the Civil Rights movement. Narrated by Sidney Poitier, the
film sequences were supervised by directors Joseph L. Mankiewicz
and Sidney Lumet.

On Monday, Jan. 19, there will be the annual noon
march to the Middlebury village green. For the eighth consecutive
year, members of the community and College will gather at Mead
Chapel at 11:15 a.m. to march through town to the village green,
while the Mead Chapel carillon rings out in honor of Dr. King.
Immediately following the march, a program of music, readings
and remarks by students from Mary Hogan Elementary, the Gailer
School, Middlebury Union High School, Middlebury College, and
other members of the Middlebury community, will take place in
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, located on the Green. Refreshments
will be served.

At 4:00 p.m., in the Coltrane Lounge of Adirondack
House on College St., guest lecturer Dr. Jamie Washington will
give a talk about Dr. King’s life and work. A nationally known
speaker, Dr. Washington is assistant to the vice president for
student affairs at the University of Maryland Baltimore County,
and the founder of New Visions, a multicultural organizational
development firm in Maryland.

For more information, contact Leroy Nesbitt, special
assistant to the president, at 802-443-3166.

Summary Schedule of Events:

Jan. 18
Chapel Service, 11:00 a.m., Mead Memorial Chapel. Featuring
songs and readings by the The PALANA Kids.

Man is man because he is free to operate within the framework
of his destiny. He is free to deliberate, to make decisions, and
to choose between alternatives. He is distinguished from animals
by his freedom to do evil or to do good and to walk the high road
of beauty or tread the low road of ugly degeneracy. —Martin Luther
King, Jr., “The Measures of Man” (1959)

Jan. 18 Montgomery to Memphis,
7:30 p.m., Sunderland Language Center, Room 110, on College St.
A documentary film of Dr.
King’s life.

Success, recognition, and conformity are the bywords of the
modern world where everyone seems to crave the anesthetizing security
of being identified with the majority. —Martin Luther King, Jr.,
“Strength to Love” (1963)

Jan. 19 Noon March to the Village
Green, 11:15 a.m., Mead
Chapel. Participants should gather at Mead Chapel for the noon
march to the Middlebury village green. A program of music, readings
and remarks by students from Mary Hogan Elementary School, the
Gailer School, Middlebury Union High School, Middlebury College,
and other members of the Middlebury community will take place
in St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church immediately following the march.
Refreshments will be served. The Mead Chapel carillon will ring
out at noon in honor of Dr. King.

Many of the ugly pages of American history have been obscured
and forgotten….America owes a debt of justice which it has only
begun to pay. If it loses the will to finish or slackens in its
determination, history will recall its crimes and the country
that would be great will lack the most indispensable element of
greatness-justice. —Martin Luther King, Jr., “Where Do We
Go from Here: Chaos or Community?” (1967)

Jan. 19 Martin Luther King Lecture,
4:00 p.m., Coltrane Lounge in Adirondack House on College St.
Lecture by Dr. Jamie Washington on the life and work of Dr. King.