Martin Luther King, Jr. and Athens, Ohio

Our guest speaker to launch this collective presentation will be Rev. Jack Sullivan Jr., D.Min., D.D., Executive Director of the Ohio Council of Churches and Adjunct Instructor at Phillips Theological Seminary, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Dr. Sullivan will talk about how condemning and redressing the wrongs of inequality and racism current today directly builds upon MLK's legacy of activism and moral purpose.

Next, we will turn our attention to Ohio University's Mahn Center for Archives & Special Collections, which holds an assortment of items preserved to inform scholars and citizens of Martin Luther King, Jr's visit to Athens in 1959-60, as well as the impact his 1968 assassination had on our campus.  Librarian Todd will introduce you to this local resource center and how you can access images and documents that relate to MLK's historical connections with our community. After that, Librarian Austin will discuss town newspaper responses to these two events in The Athens Messenger and other area newspapers, and how to access those articles and pictures. 

Co-Sponsored by the Friends of the Athens Public Library and the Ohio University Alumni Association (OUAA)