Change, challenges and transformation were themes of the 2009 breakfast celebration honoring Dr. Martin Luther King on Monday, Jan. 19 at Millsaps College. Members of the Millsaps and Tougaloo College communities convened on the Millsaps campus for a breakfast meeting and fellowship.
In his keynote speech, The Reverend Dr. Don Fortenberry, former Millsaps college chaplain, told of his experiences growing up in the racial divided town of Summit, Mississippi and the “code of silence based on fear of change” that enwrapped the town.
The challenges faced by Dr. King and other Civil Rights supporters were part of a process to heal the nation and Fortenberry urged the audience not to be silent about social justice issues in the world today.
“As we listen and watch the world around us there is a place were our voices are needed,” Fortenberry said.
Students and faculty from both Millsaps and Tougaloo participated in the program. Cree Cantrell, Millsaps SBA President, and Rashad Junior, Mr. Tougaloo, welcomed the audience. Entertainment was provided by Gerald Walker, assistant professor of music at Tougaloo; Wrijoya Roy, a Millsaps student; and Jessie Primer III, chair of the music department at Tougaloo.
The celebration also included a pictorial highlight and a recitation of passages by students from both colleges reading words from Thurgood Marshall, Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel, Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi, John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama.
Other events for the day included a service project and a “Kids’ Play & Serve” sponsored by 1 Campus 1 Community for children from North Midtown to come to campus for play, lunch, a service project and a viewing of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. For the service project, students assisted in landscaping the Park View Place Habitat Housing Project on Wood Street.
