PULLMAN, Wash. – Two dynamic civil rights speakers will highlight Washington State University’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration in January. WSU faculty are invited to incorporate the presentations into spring semester class curricula.
King described speaker Diane Nash as the ‘‘driving spirit in the nonviolent assault on segregation at lunch counters.’’ She led that sit-in movement, coordinated the 1961 freedom ride from Birmingham, Ala., to Jackson, Miss., helped organize the 1963 march on Washington and was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to a national committee that promoted passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Speaker Michael Eric Dyson has been named one of the 150 most powerful African Americans by Ebony magazine. He has published two books about King and his “Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X” (1994) was named one of the most important African American books of the 20th century. His fiery speaking style led a Chronicle of Higher Education reporter to write that, with his rhetorical gifts, he “can rock the classroom and the chapel alike.”
Nash will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22, in the CUB ballroom. Dyson will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, in the CUB ballroom. The presentations are free to the public and will be followed by book signings.
“The Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration planning committee is very excited these two talented individuals have agreed to part of our MLK celebration,” said Marc Robinson, director of WSU’s Culture and Heritage Houses. “Both are highly sought after and we are fortunate to be able to bring them here.”
Faculty interested in incorporating the visits into curricula can contact Robinson at marc_robinson@wsu.edu to make arrangements.
About Nash
Originally from Chicago, Nash’s involvement in the civil rights movement began while she was a student at Fisk University. In 1960 she became the chairperson of the student sit-in movement in Nashville, Tenn., the first southern city to desegregate its lunch counters. She was a founding member of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
In 1961 she coordinated the freedom ride, a story documented in the 2011 PBS American Experience film “Freedom Riders.”
Through her involvement with the SNCC and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Nash worked closely with King. In 1962 he nominated her for a civil rights award sponsored by the New York branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to acknowledge her exemplary role in the student sit-ins.
Her many arrests for civil rights activities culminated when she was imprisoned for 30 days in 1961 while pregnant with her first child. She later was active in the peace movement to end the Vietnam War and became an instructor in the philosophy and strategy of non-violence as developed by Mohandas Gandhi.
About Dyson
Dyson, an American Book Award recipient and two-time NAACP Image Award winner, has published numerous works about topics such as Hurricane Katrina, Tupac Shakur and rap music, and Bill Cosby and the black poor.
He wrote “I May Not Get There with You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr.” (2000), which made a significant contribution to King scholarship by recovering the radical legacy of the slain civil rights leader. In 2008, Dyson published a second book on King, The New York Times best-selling “April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Death and How It Changed America,” which was hailed by The Washington Post as “an excellent sociological primer on institutionalized racism in America.”
Dyson has taught at Brown University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania. He is a distinguished professor of sociology at Georgetown University.
WSU sponsors include the Office of the President, the Office of Equity and Diversity, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education, the Graduate School and the Compton Union Building.
Contacts:
Marc A. Robinson, director, WSU Culture and Heritage Houses, 509-339-6172, marc_robinson@wsu.edu
Steve Nakata, manager of communications, WSU Student Affairs and Enrollment, 509-335-1774, nakata@wsu.edu