The University of Lynchburg’s Office of Equity and Inclusion will host two public events in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
At 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 24, activist and author Penny Blue will present “King Did More Than Dream.” The event, to be held in the West Room of Drysdale Student Center, is part of the University’s Courageous Conversation series.
Admission is free, but attendees are asked to register online.
A native of Rocky Mount, Virginia, Blue was raised on a tobacco farm in nearby Union Hall. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Howard University and has an MBA from Duke. She is the author of “A Time to Protest: Leadership Lessons from My Father Who Survived the Segregated South for 99 Years.”
Blue also is the Virginia program director for Red Wine & Blue, a grassroots organization that describes itself as a “sisterhood working to change the world together, one suburb at a time,” and CEO of Penny Wise Gateway LLC, a consulting and leadership training firm.
During Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, she was a grassroots community organizer and a local, state, and national presidential delegate. In 2019, she served as southwest program director for the Virginia League of Conservation Voters in Richmond.
As a two-term member of the school board in Franklin County, Virginia, Blue led efforts to have the Confederate battle flag added to the school system’s dress code rules as a hate symbol.
At 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 26, the University will host its annual Unity March. The event begins at Snidow Chapel and ends at the Garren Victory Bell. There is no cost to participate.
For more information on Lynchburg’s MLK Day events, email oei@lynchburg.edu.
