THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 13, 1996 TAG: 9601130299
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 127 lines
There were few complaints about the dampness or the slabs of ice and frozen snow that speckled the road across Norfolk State University Friday morning.
The hundreds marching toward the gym, keeping themselves warm with verses of the spiritual ``We Shall Overcome,'' were on their way to remember ``King.''
``King never let a little cold or heat stand in his way,'' one student said, buttoning her coat.
Hundreds marched and more than 2,400 attended NSU's annual program to celebrate the birthday of civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr., who would have been 67 on Monday.
After the brisk walk across campus, guest speaker Joyce Ladner, a former interim president of Howard University, reflected on the man whose brief life made lasting impressions on America's history and conscience.
Ladner, 51, met King during her days as a civil rights activist in the early '60s. She spoke with him when he visited student protesters at her college, and she was on the podium of the Lincoln Memorial when King told the world about his dream. Ladner met him again at a funeral for four Atlanta children killed by a racist's bomb.
``I can't say that I was a personal friend,'' Ladner said. ``But I carry inside the challenge to carry the ideal of racial justice. . . . To have the integrity about the things we believe in.''
A year ago, Ladner was the interim president of Howard University, the first woman to hold the seat at the prestigious, historically black institution. She drew national attention during her 15-month tenure - she laid off 400 staff workers to reduce the school's budget deficit, a move that drew strong criticism.
But Ladner isn't unused to censure.
While in college, she was active in SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, famous for its sit-ins. She spent summers registering black voters and organizing and fund raising for the historic 1963 March on Washington.
During Friday's ceremony, Ladner told of how King helped her generation become an agent of great social and legal change. She stilled the crowd when she said that same generation had failed in many ways.
``A part of your problem today,'' Ladner said, ``is that we didn't lead you. We were so tired of struggling and going to jail, the oppression, we just wanted you to grow up in suburban homes and go to good schools,'' she said as several in the audience yelled, ``Yes!!!'' and nodded in agreement.
``We didn't teach you how to lead. We didn't let you earn it yourselves.''
But, Ladner stressed, the problems that plague Americans today can be solved with the lessons King preached before he was assassinated in 1968.
``Get involved in causes for justice,'' Ladner said,``Causes to eradicate poverty, something to bring about social change.'' MEMO: CALENDAR
All events are free unless otherwise noted.
TODAY
The Area II NAACP Commemorative Martin Luther King breakfast, 8 a.m.,
Scott-Dozier Dining Hall at Norfolk State University. Several community
leaders will be honored. Tickets are $10.
New Year/Lee, Jackson, King Celebration, 6 p.m., Crossroads Center in
Norfolk. Admission is 50 cents.
``I Have a Dream'' - a focus on King's famous speech, noon, Ingleside
Recreation Center in Norfolk.
MONDAY
The Urban League of Hampton Roads 11th annual Community Leaders
Breakfast at 7:30 a.m., Scott-Dozier Dining Hall, Norfolk State
University. Keynote speaker: G. William Whitehurst, former congressman
and now professor of history at Old Dominion University. Tickets are
$10. For details, call 627-0864.
Suffolk's annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, 11 a.m.,
Nansemond River High School. Keynote speaker: Rev. Alan Felumlee, pastor
of Main Street United Methodist Church. For details, call 925-2283.
Tidewater Metro Baptist Minister's Conference annual Martin Luther
King Jr. service, noon, First Baptist Church Bute Street in Norfolk.
Guest speaker: Rev. Wyatt T. Walker, former assistant to Martin Luther
King Jr. For details, call 627-8462.
Mourning Women's March, 1 p.m. Organizers are citizens who will march
and pray to stop violent crime. The group will meet at the corner of
Church Street and Brambleton Avenue in Norfolk and will march to Booker
T. Washington High School. For details, call 624-1561.
Portsmouth branch NAACP 10th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday
celebration, 10 a.m., Fourth Baptist Church in Portsmouth. Keynote
speaker: John Johnson, director of the Labor and Armed Services and
Veterans Affairs department of the national NAACP.
The Historically-black College Scholarship Fair will be in the annex
of the church from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Representatives from 10 colleges
will be there to give high school students information about financial
aid and college scholarships.
Program includes performances by several local choirs. For details,
call 420-4160.
10th anniversary rededication ceremony at The Dwelling Place at 2
p.m. Newport House facility of The Dwelling Place in Norfolk. Program
includes remarks by Joseph A. Leafe, former mayor of Norfolk; the
current mayor, Paul D. Fraim, and three former residents sharing their
stories. Tours of the homeless shelters will follow. For details, call
624-9879.
``Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.: The Jurisprudence of the Letter
from the Birmingham Jail.'' Televised lecture with a Notre Dame law
professor to discuss the letter Martin Luther King wrote in 1963.
Robertson Hall Moot Court Room at Regent University in Virginia Beach,
1:30 p.m. For details, call 579-4010.
Martin Luther King celebration. 5 p.m. Titustown Center in Norfolk.
For details, call 441-2254.
``Embracing the Dream,'' program at Eastern Virginia Medical School
in Norfolk, 6 p.m. Keynote speaker: Gilbert G. Campbell Jr., pastor of
New Calvary Baptist Church. The program will include a slide show about
King's life, a dance presentation, poetry reading and a performance by
the Old Dominion University Ebony Impact Choir. For details, call
446-6050.
TUESDAY
``In Honor of the Man and His Dream,''program in the North Cafeteria
of Webb Center at Old Dominion University, 12:30 p.m. Guest speaker is
Julianne Malveaux, syndicated columnist and regular commentator on CNN
and PBS. The program follows a commemorative march which begins at 12:15
in the lobby of Webb Center. For details, call 683-3446. ILLUSTRATION: CHRISTOPHER REDDICK, The Virginian-Pilot color photos
Maurice Odom, center, an NSU sophomore, marches across campus with
fellow students and visitors in the university's annual
commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.
Guest speaker Dr. Joyce Ladner, a former interim president of Howard
University, told of meeting King in the early 1960s.
by CNB