King Institute inauguration, anti-apartheid symposium honor MLK legacy

The inauguration of the newly expanded Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute, a dramatic performance based on King's writing, a soul food lunch and a conference celebrating the international campaigns that ended apartheid in South Africa are among campus events that will honor the legacy of the late civil rights leader this month. The events are free and open to the public.

A ceremony on Jan. 13 will inaugurate the King Institute, formerly the Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers Project, which was joined to the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) in 2005. Institute founder Clayborne Carson, professor of history, and sociologist Lawrence Bobo, CCSRE's director and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Centennial Professor, will speak at the event, to be held from noon to 2 p.m. at the Oak Room in Tresidder Union.

At the ceremony, the institute will present King Awards to recipients including former Secretary of State George Shultz and folk singers Guy Carawan and Candie Anderson Carawan. Guy Carawan, who helped popularize "We Shall Overcome" as an anthem of the civil rights movement, will perform with his wife, Candie. Other King Award recipients will include Harold Boyd, a former dean and former director of the Medical Fund for the Office of Development; Wayne Duckworth, a retired staff member of Information Technology Systems and Services who was long affiliated with the campus African American Staff Group; and artist-musician Drue Kataoka.

Established in 1985 by Carson—who was asked by King's widow, Coretta Scott King, to edit and publish her late husband's papers—the King Papers Project has published five volumes of a planned 14-volume edition of King's correspondence, sermons, speeches and his published and unpublished writings. Carson founded the institute to endow and expand the work of the Papers Project, which has grown over the years to include producing books, textbooks, curricula and documentary films. (The sixth volume will be published next year.)

The institute has raised $4 million of a projected $12 million endowment fund, Carson said. The endowment "makes certain that our program will continue in perpetuity and will ensure that there will be an enduring link between the King legacy and Stanford," Carson said.

Carson collaborated with producer Connie Field on the documentary Have You Heard from Johannesburg? by Clarity Films, which will premiere on campus on Jan. 21 as part of a symposium that will examine the global struggle to end apartheid in South Africa.

The anti-apartheid movement has connections with both King and Stanford, Carson noted. Not only did the success of the African American voting rights struggle help pave the way for the achievements of the African National Congress, but also the U.S. congressional Black Caucus was crucial in passing the legislation that established the official anti-apartheid foreign policy for the U.S. government, he said. "And the divestment struggle was perhaps the strongest student movement in Stanford's history," Carson added.

Scheduled events include:

Noon to 2 p.m., Oak Room, Tresidder Union: Celebrate the expanded institute with featured speakers and folk singers Guy Carawan and Candie Anderson Carawan.

Noon to 1:30 p.m., Memorial Church: Actor Aldo Billingslea will give a dramatic reading of excerpts from a play written by Clayborne Carson. The performance is based on King's speeches and writings, including reflections by King of his leadership of the civil rights movement and about his debates with Malcolm X and Stokley Carmichael.

10 a.m. to 4 p.m., San Jose to San Francisco: A train chartered by the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Association of Santa Clara Valley will leave the San Jose Diridon Station at 10 a.m. and arrive in San Francisco at approximately 11:30 a.m., making stops in Sunnyvale, Palo Alto and San Mateo. In San Francisco, buses will transport riders to a King birthday celebration at the Civic Center Auditorium (for more information, see http://www.norcalmlk.org). Stanford students and staff from the King Institute will conduct trivia contests about King and the civil rights movement aboard the train. Round-trip tickets are $5 (good for all southbound trains on Jan. 16.) and are available by calling (408) 292-3157.

Noon to 1 p.m., Round Room, behind Memorial Church: The Rev. Troy Jackson of University Christian Church, Cincinnati; Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann, senior associate dean for religious life at Stanford; and the Rev. J. Alfred Smith, Jr. of Antioch Baptist Church in San Jose will speak at this brown-bag program.

1 to 5 p.m., Kresge Auditorium: The symposium, presented as part of the university's Aurora Forum, will focus on the history and legacy of international campaigns to end apartheid in South Africa. It will include a panel discussion moderated by President Emeritus Donald Kennedy and former students active in the anti-apartheid movement. The panel will be followed by the premiere of the documentary film Have You Heard from Johannesburg? The film's producer, Academy Award nominee Connie Field, and Clayborne Carson will participate in the symposium.

Noon to 1 p.m., Oak Room Tresidder Union: Down-home soul food lunch includes presentations by students and others.

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