Esu, Emporia to celebrate
ESU Media Relations
Friday, January 16, 2009
A campus and community-wide series of events will celebrate of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Emporia on Jan. 19.
The celebration begins with a walk at 5 p.m. starting at William Allen White Library on the Emporia State University campus. The walk will proceed west on 12th Avenue to First Congregational Church at the corner of 12th Avenue and State Street. The church will host a dinner prepared by ESU international students in its Fellowship Hall and Douglass Hall from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m.
Scheduled for 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church, the program will include selected readings of King’s sermons and vocal selections from ESU’s Harmonious Voices of Praise gospel choir and the Community Choir, which will rehearse prior to the program. Area clergy will also be participating in the service.
The evening’s speaker will be Aletha Cushinberry of Topeka. Cushinberry received the Living the Dream Religion Award in 2007, recognizing her 40 years of leadership as pastor of Topeka’s Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. She is also Professor Emeritus of Nursing at Washburn University, where she retired from teaching in 1993.
A children’s art program will be offered from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in ESU’s Memorial Union Webb Lecture Hall. Children will be able to participate in various art activities, including coloring books, postcards and seed planting. The children’s artwork will be displayed in the evening at First Congregational Church.
Other events associated with the King holiday week will include a public broadcast of the Presidential inauguration at several locations on the ESU campus, including Albert Taylor Hall in Plumb Hall, the atrium of Visser Hall, and on Main Street in the Memorial Union.
The public is invited to all events. For more information, please contact Barbara Baker, ESU director of multicultural affairs, at 620-341-5481, or Pastor Andrew McHenry of First Congregational Church at 620-342-6854.