The Dream: The Legacy Through the Eyes of Our Youth, is theme of the 22nd Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration planned on the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh campus.
The event takes place from 4-6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 16, at Alumni Welcome and Conference Center, 625 Pearl Ave., Oshkosh. The celebration, which supports King Jr.’s creed for equality for all, is free and open to the public. A variety of hors d’oeuvres will be available prior to the start of the program.
Online registration is requested by Friday, Jan. 6.
Keynote speaker will be Vicki Crawford, director of the Office of the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection, who will speak on The Relevance of Martin Luther King Jr. in the 21st Century.
Crawford has oversight for campus-based initiatives and public programs that highlight the collection and advance the teachings and philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She also collaborates with the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Ga., by serving on the Curatorial Team that oversees the thematic, rotating exhibits of King’s papers.
She is an author of numerous publications, including the groundbreaking volume, Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers.
The MLK Community Celebration at UW Oshkosh will feature special performances by Pe’Tehn Raighn-Kem Jackson, a 5-year-old poet from Chicago, Ill., and Liamani Segura, a 7-year-old singer from Racine, Wis.
- Jackson is a performer who has been performing on television since the age of 3. Her first television appearance was on the Windy City Live Show in Chicago, where she performed a poem called Hey Black Child, by Useni Perkins. The show helped her land a performance on NBC’s Little Big Shots. Most recently, Jackson appeared on NBC’s Steve Harvey Show where she performed a poem written for her by her parents titled Affirmations. That performance received more than 4 million views within the first month of being posted on the internet. Jackson is seeking to get the Affirmations poem published into a children’s book to share its positive message. Jackson has an interest in modeling and performing, with work in film, commercials, print and brand representation.
- Segura is a second grade student at St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Racine. Segura’s public musical journey began when she was 6, singing the national anthem at a variety/talent show. She has since sung at many venues including Wisconsin professional and college sporting events and large regional events. She has sung on stage before musical artists including Kellie Pickler, Kip Moore, Maddie and Tae, Morgan Frazier, Clare Dunn and High Valley. She has not taken music or vocal lessons but started to sing at home around the age of 3. “Singing makes me happy,”Segura said. “One day I want to sing at the Super Bowl and have jets fly over the big fireworks.” She said she hopes her singing “touches people’s hearts” and makes them happy.
The UW Oshkosh Annual Commemoration celebrates the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., by honoring a community member with a Community Service Award for demonstrating the same spirit of volunteerism and citizenship that characterized the life of King.
Other awards to be presented are the MLK Drum Major Service Award, recognizing an individual who has demonstrated service and leadership in promoting human dignity and racial equality and harmony among the UW Oshkosh campus and community; and African American Student Leadership Award, for leadership in campus activities that benefits African American students and the campus community.
The MLK event also will feature a 2016 Black Heritage Stamp tribute and the naming of the Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest winners.
Learn more: