Marshall University and Huntington-Cabell Branch NAACP will present a program in observance and celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday.
The program features special remarks by Marshall University President Jerome Gilbert, Vice President for Student Affairs Maurice Cooley and President of Huntington-Cabell Branch NAACP David Wells. Musical selections are also included, as well as readings from the Letter From Birmingham Jail, which was composed by Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1964, discussing a moral responsibility that people have to break unjust laws.
“Marshall is pleased to join the Huntington-Cabell Branch of NAACP in this celebration, which lasts in our minds for the entire year ahead,” said Cooley, who is also the vice president for intercultural affairs at Marshall.
“Perhaps, more than any other time that I can recall, now is the moment in our nation’s history that we must rise up to speak about the importance of social and racial justice, freedom of speech, freedom of lawful protest and non-violent methods of resolving our difference in an effort to build a just and equal society for all,” said Cooley. “The legacy and history of Dr. King, tailored in scripture and passion for equal justice, is ever more striking and necessary.”
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the program will be presented virtually, premiering on the university’s Facebook page on Monday at 6 p.m.