The University of Lynchburg will honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with three big events the week after Martin Luther King Day, when classes resume. All events are free and open to the public.
The one-man play “From Myth to Man,” written by playwright, author, and producer Ira Knight and performed by John Ivey, will kick things off at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 23, in Sydnor Performance Hall in Schewel Hall. The event is sponsored by Gentry Locke Attorneys.
A “thought-provoking and intimate interpretation” of King’s “complex human side,” the play is “not imitation and impersonation, but an authentic portrayal that will connect this and all generations to the mission, legacy, and humanity of the civil and human rights leader,” Knight said.
As Christian Otero ’23, who chairs the MLK Week and Black History Month Planning Committee and leads the University’s NAACP chapter, put it, “Knight’s intention for creating the play was to both inspire and connect the audience with experiences and challenges in Dr. King’s life that they also could be experiencing.”
The 30- to 40-minute performance will be followed by a Q&A with Knight and Ivey.
At 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 25, the Office of Equity and Inclusion will host “Radical Legacy of MLK: A Courageous Conversation” in Hall Campus Center’s Memorial Ballroom. Courageous Conversations are held in person and virtually each semester on a variety of topics.
“Some parts of the legacy are not talked about or have been [overlooked], and we want to explore and discuss those parts,” Otero said.
The panel will feature Dr. Owen Cardwell, Rosel Schewel Distinguished Professor of Education and Human Development and co-director of the Center for Education and Leadership; Dr. Myra Gordon, founder and CEO of Amazing Africa LLC; and local poet Nick George.
MLK Week concludes at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 27, with the University’s annual MLK Unity Walk, which will take participants from Snidow Chapel to Hopwood Hall. Attendees will gather in Hopwood Auditorium following the walk.
MLK Week is sponsored by OEI. For more information, email Jennifer Reichard at [email protected].
