Special 'King & ASU' Exhibit during January at Levi Watkins Learning Center
By Kenneth Mullinax/ASU
When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. moved to Montgomery in 1954, a special and lifelong relationship developed between the young pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and Alabama State University. As the nation celebrates Dr. King during the month of January, ASU's Levi Watkin's Learning Center (LWLC/Library) is honoring his memory by sponsoring a special exhibit, titled "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Alabama State University Connection."
"We are doing this to highlight the special relationship that Dr. King had with ASU," said Raegan Stearns, archivist at ASU. "We want to make sure that our students and the entire Hornet Nation Family realize the pivotal and personal role that intertwined the two and that brought the University to play a major role in the birth of the modern civil rights movement and the many protests and peaceful demonstrations that took place in Alabama to and beyond the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Selma to Montgomery March."
The display is the brainchild of LWLC dean, Dr. Janice Franklin, and was designed by Dr. Howard Robinson, the LWLC’s associate director of Archives and Cultural Heritage Services.
"The Levi Watkins Learning Center is proud to be sponsoring this exhibit that honors Dr. King, who was one of the nation's most distinguished citizens," said Dean Franklin.
Franklin noted that viewing the exhibit and utilizing the many services offered by the LWLC are all free of charge not only to the campus community but also to the public and may be used as a resource and as a way of remembering the Nobel Peace-Prize laureate, whose home from 1954-1960 was just two blocks away from the ASU campus on South Hall Street.
Stearns explained that the LWLC exhibit may be seen both in-person and virtually either by visiting the library’s fifth-floor movie wall, by reviewing a large collection of special movies on its 'Kanopy Database Films' archive, by reading the curated collection of e-books about Dr. King's life, or by reviewing the special exhibit "Dr. King and the Alabama State University Connection."
"We want to thank Dean Franklin whose leadership and inspiration is the foundation of putting this exhibit together, as well as Dr. Robinson's extensive knowledge of all things about Dr. King," Stearns stated. "We have a very dedicated staff here and the entire program is due to the collective leadership and hard work of all of our faculty and staff."
To access the exhibit online: visit the Library's webpage at: www.lib.alasu.edu
News media contact: Kenneth Mullinax at 334-229-4104.
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