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Campus Life Oxford and Beyond

Miami University, Oxford community to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins, a 1974 Western College for Women graduate and former president of the League of Women Voters, will give the keynote speech.

Campus Life Oxford and Beyond

Miami University, Oxford community to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Miami University and the Oxford community will commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 16, with a special celebration in the John Dolibois Rooms of the Shriver Center, 701 E. Spring St.

Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins, a 1974 Western College for Women graduate and former president of the League of Women Voters of the United States, will give the keynote speech, “I Dare You To Be The Dream!”

Jefferson-Jenkins was Miami’s 2021 spring commencement speaker and the third honoree of the university’s Freedom Summer of ’64 Award.

Miami University President Gregory Crawford and Cristina Alcalde, vice president for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, will offer remarks, and Oxford Mayor William Snavely will read a mayor's proclamation.

Oxford Chapter NAACP President Fran Jackson also will welcome participants and give the musical introduction of “Lift Every Voice” led by tenor Travis Pearce, who earned his graduate degree in Music Performance in 2021. Laura Carroll, a graduate student seeking her master’s in Vocal Performance, also will perform. Oxford Chapter NAACP Vice President Vanessa Cummings will lead the singing of “We Shall Overcome.”

The event, which will include a presentation of art exhibition winners from the Talawanda School District and the McGuffey Montessori School, is hosted by Miami’s Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion and the Oxford NAACP.