Clemson to mark 30th anniversary of MLK celebration

Published: January 11, 2012

Harry Johnson image by: Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Project Foundation

CLEMSON — Clemson University will hold its 30^th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Jan. 16-19. Events begin with the MLK Day of Service, and the highlight of the celebration will be a keynote address by Harry E. Johnson Sr., president and CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Project Foundation.

For the MLK Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 16, hundreds of students, faculty and staff will use the holiday to help others around the community. From 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., volunteers will help out at various agencies, such as the Animal Rescue Fund, Clemson Child Development Center, Pickens County Habitat for Humanity, Helping Hands, Foothills YMCA, Collins Children’s Home, Clemson Community Care and Sterling House.

As part of the Day of Service, The Blood Connection will hold a blood drive from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Hendrix Student Center.

The MLK Commemorative Service on Tuesday, Jan. 17, will feature keynote speaker Johnson at 6 p.m. in Tillman Hall auditorium. 

Under Johnson’s leadership, the MLK Memorial Foundation raised more than $117 million to build the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C., which was dedicated this past October. The memorial is the first on the National Mall to honor an African-American. For more information about the memorial, visit http://www.mlkmemorial.org.

Johnson led the MLK Memorial Foundation since 2002. He is also a partner with the law office of Glenn and Johnson in Houston. From 2001 to 2004, he was national president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.

Johnson graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in political science. He has completed graduate studies in public administration at Washington University in St. Louis and earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston.

For more information about Johnson’s career, leadership experience and awards and honors, visit http://www.harryejohnson.net/.

The commemorative service is free and open to the public.

On Wednesday, Jan. 18, students, faculty and staff will discuss diversity on campus during “Diversity Dialogue: Voices of the Tiger” at 7 p.m. in the Lila Holmes Ballroom at Clemson House. The discussion, which will focus on how diversity at Clemson has changed since the MLK celebration began 30 years ago.

The final event of Clemson’s MLK celebration will be the Tunnel of Oppression, which will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, in the Hendrix Student Center. Participants will experience different forms of oppression and discrimination in a walk through the tunnel, including racial/ethnic discrimination, hazing, cyberbullying, religious discrimination and sexual orientation/gender identity discrimination. Counselors will be on hand to discuss the experience with participants afterward. This event is free and open to the public.

For more information about Clemson’s MLK celebration, visit http://www.clemson.edu/mlk or http://twitter.com/Clemson_MLK.

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