University of Southern Maine

News Releases

USM Celebrates the Life of Martin Luther King Jr.

January 11, 2005

The University of Southern Maine will examine the life and vision of Martin Luther King Jr. at a free event that will feature a showing of the film, "A Call To Action: A Community's Dream," followed by a panel discussion, musical performance and reception. The event will take place from 4-6 p.m., Tuesday, January 25, on the seventh floor of the Glickman Family Library, Forest Ave., Portland.

The film, produced by the Portland Branch of the NAACP and written and directed by USM students Erica Ryan and Robin Talbot, outlines the struggle for civil rights in Maine and commemorates the anniversary of the founding of the current Portland Branch of the NAACP.

Maureen Elgersman Lee, faculty scholar of the USM African American Collection of Maine, will be joined on a community panel discussion by Jill Duson, mayor of the City of Portland; Rachel Talbot Ross, president of the Portland Branch of the NAACP; June McKenzie, Portland Branch of the NAACP board member; Desomond Gilliard, president of the Black Law Students Association at the University of Maine School of Law; and USM student George Borum, organizer of the new Maine College Chapter of the NAACP.

The program will close with a benediction by the Reverend Kenneth I. Lewis from Portland's Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church. A reception will follow the program, during which the musical group The Black Artist Forum will perform.

For more information, contact Rebecca Sockbeson, director of USM Multicultural Student Affairs at 780-4006.

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