Eastern Michigan University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee is preparing its biggest MLK Day celebration to date.
The celebration will take place on campus and span six days, starting Jan. 17 and ending Jan. 22.
“It’s such a significant event,” committee member Nicole Carter said. Carter is an EMU student working towards her doctorate in educational studies.
“This is my fourth year participating, but I feel like this is the biggest one yet,” she said.
More than 20 events are scheduled for the celebration, including academic discussions, a men’s basketball game between EMU and Miami University-Ohio and a keynote address from prominent anti-racism activist and author Tim Wise.
“This year’s celebration gives people the opportunity to attend academic programs, earn scholarships, volunteer in the community and to be entertained,” said Keith Jason, EMU’s coordinator of student services at the College of Technology and one of the committee’s co-chairs.
“We feel like the celebration reflects the various aspects of Dr. King’s life and legacy that we stand behind as an institution here at EMU,” he said.
The celebration committee, which has more than 50 members consisting of EMU students and employees, has been planning the celebration since last October.
“EMU has the largest Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in Michigan; nobody else comes close,” committee member Brandon Britt said. Britt is an EMU junior majoring in elementary math and education.
The committee expects a high turnout for EMU’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, and members are happy to see EMU take the holiday seriously.
EMU senior Kelsey Goodman, who is a political science and African-American studies double-major and the current president of the EMU NAACP chapter, said the event gets bigger every year.
“I’m very happy we have so much attention given to it,” Goodman said.
Britt said, “It’s great to see such a monumental man being celebrated and see it get the backing of the university. We really see EMU is committed to diversity.”
For more information about the celebration, visit www.emich.edu/mlk/index.php.
