MGCCC sets two-week King Day celebration

Three panels from the Emmett Till Traveling Exhibit. The full exhibit is showing at the Fine Arts Gallery on the Jefferson Davis Campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College through Jan. 15 as part of the college’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College has planned a variety of events in the next two weeks to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The events leading up to and following King Day will be held on the Jackson County Campus, Jefferson Davis Campus and Perkinston Campus. The celebration began with the opening of the Emmett Till Traveling Exhibit on Jan. 5 at the Jefferson Davis Campus Fine Arts Gallery and will culminate at the Jefferson Davis Campus with the Student Civil Rights Memorials. For the first time, the college will announce the Spirit of Unity Award winner at the keynote event, Many Become One: A Celebration of the Beloved Community, on Jan. 21 at 10 a.m. in the Fine Arts Auditorium on the Jefferson Davis Campus.

• College-wide
• Jan. 21 -- Spirit of Unity Award presentation, Jefferson Davis Campus Fine Arts Auditorium, 10 a.m.
• Jackson County Campus
• Jan. 15 – Freedom March at the Walking Track, 12:20 – 1 p.m.
• Jan. 20 -- 2009 Presidential Inauguration televised viewing, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Warner Peterson Administration Building Lecture Hall. Refreshments served.
• Jefferson Davis Campus
• January 5-15-Emmett Till Traveling Exhibit - Fine Arts Gallery
• January 13 - The Southern Institute at Tulane's Education Director Plater Robinson's Emmett Till Presentation in G-121, 11 a.m.
• January 19 - King Day Service Project: MGCCC's BIG GIVE, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Volunteers will assist with one or more of the following: King Day Kids' Camp, minor home repairs for Biloxi's elderly and disabled, decorate a float/ride for the King Day Parade, cook for and host a block party for El Pueblo {a new agency helping the Coast's homeless}. Breakfast and lunch provided, as well as a King Day celebration tea for all volunteers.
• January 20 - Henry Allen, son of a slain Louisiana civil-rights activist, will tell his story and discuss civil-rights era cases at 11 a.m. in G-121.
• January 21 - King Day Celebration Keynote Event - Many Become One: A Celebration of the Beloved Community. Music Speaker: Emma West (who worked with King in the early days of Alabama's Civil Rights Movement, including the Bus Boycott) Presentation of the Spirit of Unity Award Presentation of student art and essay contests and reception in the Fine Arts Auditorium at 10 a.m.
• January 22 - Student Civil Rights Memorials {Emmett Till Memorial Service and Sam Bowers' trial for the murder of Vernon Dahmer}, G-121 at 10 a.m.
• Perkinston Campus
• Jan. 15 – Martin Luther King Jr. Remembrance Ceremony, 12:30-3 p.m., Malone Hall Auditorium. Performances by the Perk Players and Mississippi Sound, student tributes, and a special tribute by guest speaker Arlene Story Sanders from Delta State University