Western Carolina University will be holding several events celebrating the Martin Luther King Day throughout the upcoming week. The events will hold the theme “We As One”. All events held in celebration at WCU will be open and free to the public.
“We As One” events include a recitation of the King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” as well as two days of service.
On Monday, Jan. 19, there will be no classes in session and the University’s administrative offices will be closed. However, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity will hold a unity march and round table discussion on social justice at the University Center for all to attend.
The keynote speaker for the annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21 in the Grand room of the University Center will be Brandon A. Robinson, a two-time Western Carolina University alumnus.
Connected to MLK day, a group of researchers from Indiana University looked at MLK day from a different perspective.
“On MLK Day, people actually see African-Americans, as a group, more positively,” said Sara Konrath, one of the professors working on the study, in an interview for NPR.
As an overview from the original research, African-American population is looked at in a more positive manner on MLK Day than any other day of the week, but for individual African-American leaders, such as Barack Obama and Colin Powell, they are more disliked on this day than any other.
MLK day brings great comparison to African-Americans, however Western Carolina University is honoring this day by showing and hosting events of importance to African-Americans.
