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Events ranging from service opportunities to a speech by a civil rights pioneer will highlight Christopher Newport’s observance of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.
“Make plans now to participate in one or more of these events so that we can be together, learn together, and grow together as Captains,” said President William Kelly.
The observance begins with TEDxCNU where the theme, The Pursuit of the Common Good, echoes one of King’s messages. Tickets are required for the January 17 event at the Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center but a livestream is available.
Eight speakers including four students will focus on a topic that King often referenced:
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Martin Luther King, Jr., April 16, 1963, Birmingham, Ala.
Here are other major events during CNU’s observance of the holiday:
- Monday, January 20
No classes - community service opportunities provided by the Center for Community Engagement - Wednesday, January 22
What Would You Do? Table Conversations on Values, Community, and Action, DSU Ballroom, noon - 1 p.m., hosted by the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (registration required) - Thursday, January 23
Spring Volunteer Fair, DSU Ballroom, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m., hosted by the Center for Community Engagement
The signature event of the week is also on Thursday. Dr. Patricia Turner of the Norfolk 17 will speak about the desegregation of Virginia in a 3 p.m. event hosted by the Center for American Studies in Gaines Theatre.
Turner and 16 other children were the first to integrate Norfolk’s previously all-white schools in 1959. An Old Dominion University history collection includes this description of Turner’s life as a child in Norfolk schools: “For 4 1/2 years, Patricia endured violence and abuse that was invisible to most people. She has spoken of the fact that she couldn't make friends. No one spoke to her -- except to call her names, spit on her, and throw gum in her hair. But even worse was the behavior of her teachers. In an interview, she tells of the teachers who wore rubber gloves to receive her papers, or they had her drop her papers in a basket -- but mostly they just ignored her. Even though she qualified to play field hockey and was good at it, she never got to play because no other teams would play Norview if Patricia was going to play.”
Turner went on to graduate from Norfolk State University and ODU and then devoted her career to teaching in public schools. She will describe her extraordinary journey in the CNU talk that is open to all.