Programs Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here’s the happenings around Rockville in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Please let us know in comments if you know of any other commemorative events around Rockville.>City of Rockville

The Rockville Human Rights Commission, along with the Mayor and Council, will host the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration at noon on Monday, January 18 at Richard Montgomery High School. Last year I attended this annual event and was impressed with the entertainment, speakers and an extensive reception buffet.

Claiborne Douglass Haughton Jr., president and CEO of The Haughton Group LLC, a motivational speaker and EEO/diversity consultant is the big speaker this year. The roof will be raised by Soul in Motion and Body Moves Contemporary Dance Co., Richard Montgomery High School Jazz Combo, Richard Montgomery Gospel Choir, and CityDance Select and Conservatory.

Two awards, the Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Award (for students) and the F. Michael Taff Award (for individuals, businesses or organizations which have made a contribution to improving the lives of people with disabilities) are always presented during the program.

Montgomery County

The musical celebration and tribute to Dr. King, “Honoring Heritage, Inspiring Change,” takes place at the Music Center at Strathmore at 4:00 PM. There are no more tickets to this free event (but chances are that you could get in). The show will pay tribute to the life and works of Dr. King and its present day impact. ChoirBoyz; Li-Ly Chang & James Xu, and Sigiri Lalanavo from Sri Lanka will be performing.

Strathmore will open up the doors to non-ticket holders beginning at 3:45 p.m. hall until all seats are filled. Non-perishable food donations will also be accepted at Strathmore.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockville

Our friends at UUCR have passed along this information about their programs honoring the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and observing Black History Month.

Sunday, January 17, 10:00 a.m. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Sunday. Harriet Tubman: Leading Toward Freedom. Reverend Lynn Strauss will offer a sermon on the life work of Harriet Tubman. How might each of our lives lead toward freedom? How has our Unitarian Universalist movement contributed to freedom? Our guest musicians will be a Jazz band.

Wednesday, January 20, 7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. The Civil Rights Struggle in Montgomery County. Rev. Dr. James G. Macdonell, Pastor since 1961, and now Pastor Emeritus, of Saint Mark Presbyterian Church, Rockville, will speak of his role as a civil rights leader in Montgomery County, including as a member of the local organizing committee for the 1963 March on Washington. In 1965, he was one of 25 Washington-area clergy who were the first responders, along with Jim Reeb and other area UU ministers, to MLK’s call to march in Selma, Alabama. Rev. Macdonell received the Civil Rights Leadership Award by the Interfaith Council of Greater Washington. In 2004, he was elected to the Montgomery County Human Rights Hall of Fame. He and his wife Nancy live in Rockville.

Sunday, January 24, 10:00 a.m. How To Be A Prophetic Church by guest preacher Paula Cole Jones, a member of All Souls Unitarian in Washington, D.C. Ms. Jones is a workshop facilitator on issues of diversity and inclusion. She leads Jubilee Workshops and encourages congregations to assess their journey toward wholeness on issues of race and other diversities.

Wednesday, February 10, 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. Lincoln and African Americans: From Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama, a lecture and PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Alonzo Smith, Professor of History at Montgomery College, Rockville. Changing and diverse views on Lincoln reflect the diversity of the African American experience, as well as the influences of historical factors on how we choose to remember the past.

Wednesday, February 24, 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. Faith and Reason: Race, Justice, and American Political Life. A DVD showing of the keynote address to the 2009 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association by Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies at Princeton University. She challenges us to pause in the moment of American racial transformation and ask about how faith and reason can guide our politics toward more just ends. Yes, that’s her smart, smiling face on the cover of the Fall 2009 issue of The Crisis.

Montgomery County Volunteer Center

You can also find a ways to volunteer to honor MLK, Jr.

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