Pioneering Journalist Dorothy Gilliam to Kick Off King Week Activities

WHEN: Monday, Jan. 19, 2 p.m. (MLK Day Program; other activities scheduled through Jan. 24)
WHERE: Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, 313 N. 13th St.

Dorothy Butler Gilliam, a pioneering African-American journalist, will be the keynote speaker Jan. 19 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's ceremony for the national holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Gilliam will speak as part of a program beginning at 2 p.m. in the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, 313 N. 13th St. The program, which will kick off a weeklong series of activities on the UNL campus, will also include a performance by the gospel choir of the Afrikan People's Union, a UNL student group, and the presentation of the "Fulfilling the Dream" Award by Chancellor Harvey Perlman. The program will be followed by a 3 p.m. reception in the great hall of the adjacent Van Brunt Visitors Center.

The Jan. 19 program and reception and all MLK Week activities are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted, and are presented under the theme "The Civil Rights Movement 50 Years Later: Benefits, Challenges and Relevance." Activities Jan. 20-24 include a Jan. 20 video conference, "Dialogue on Diversity," between UNL and the University of Alabama and moderated by Gilliam; a display of newspaper clippings about civil rights issues in Nebraska collected since the 1950s by Lincoln activist Lela Shanks; presentations Jan. 21 by Marvin Burns, dean of the School of Agriculture and Applied Sciences at Langston (Okla.) University; a Jan. 21 candlelight vigil; a series of brown-bag lunches and other presentations; and community service projects involving both UNL students and alumni benefiting the Food Bank of Lincoln and the Malone Community Center. Details for these activities are listed below, with additional information on the Web.

A former Washington Post columnist and past president of the National Association of Black Journalists, Gilliam covered the civil rights movement after joining the Post's staff as a reporter in 1961. She left the Post in the mid-1960s to have more time with her children and was a part-time television reporter and freelance magazine writer before returning to the Post in 1972 as an assistant editor in the Style section.

In 1979, she became a columnist in the Metro section, covering such issues as education, politics and race, as well as her personal experiences. From 1998 until her retirement from the Post in June, she was director of the Post's Young Journalists Development Program, a long-term initiative of the newspaper to educate and cultivate talented young people who are interested in careers in newspaper journalism. This academic year, she is the Shapiro fellow in the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, lecturing and helping the school develop a program for minority outreach.

A native of Memphis, Tenn., Gilliam graduated cum laude from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo., with a bachelor's degree in journalism. She earned her master's degree at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and was awarded the school's Alumni of the Year Award in 1979. In 1991, she was a fellow in the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center at Columbia, studying racial diversity in the American media, and in the fall of 1996, she was a fellow in the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is the author of "Paul Robeson, All American," published in 1976.

To view or download a color JPEG image of Dorothy Gilliam go to this link.

Following is a list by date of other activities during MLK Week at UNL:

Jan. 19 -- 8:30 a.m., Nebraska Union doors open for marchers in Youth Rally and March; 9, pre-rally entertainment, Culler Jazz Band, The Entertainers (North Star High School step group); 10, march through downtown Lincoln to Capitol; 10:30, Rally at Capitol; 2 p.m., UNL MLK ceremony, Ross Media Arts Center.

Jan. 20-23 -- all day, display of newspaper clippings on civil rights issues in Nebraska, Rotunda Gallery, Nebraska Union, 1400 R St.

Jan. 20 -- noon, brown-bag lunch discussion, "Why the Poor Pay More for Housing than the Rich," Roger Riefler, professor of economics, Nebraska Union Crib; 3 p.m., "Mixed Messages? MLK, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey," Jesse Foster, assistant professor of teaching, learning and teacher education, Eisentrager-Howard Gallery in Richards Hall, T Street and Stadium Drive; 7, "Dialogue on Diversity," video conference between UNL and the University of Alabama, hosted by Nebraska ETV and the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications, Nebraska ETV studio, 1800 N. 33rd St. Reservations are necessary to participate in the video conference. Contact Martha Florence at (402) 472-9333, extension 220, or by e-mail.

Jan. 21 -- 10 a.m., Burns lecture, "The Civil Rights Movement 50 Years Later: Benefits, Challenges and Relevance," Dixon Auditorium, College of Dentistry, East Campus Loop and 40th Street; noon, brown-bag panel discussion moderated by Burns, "How to Cross Cultural Barriers in the Workplace," Dixon Auditorium; 5 p.m., group discussion, "Revisiting Civil Rights in Lincoln: Reflections from the 1997 sixth-grade class at Elliott Elementary School," 124 Henzlik Hall, 14th and Vine streets; 8 p.m., candlelight vigil, Wick Center Garden, 1520 R St.

Jan. 22 -- noon, brown-bag lunch panel discussion, "Death Penalty"; 4-9 p.m., community service project painting the daycare center at the Malone Center, 2032 U St.; 6:30, panel discussion moderated by Rick Alloway, assistant professor of broadcasting, "The Movement, Its Impact, Its Future: Civil Rights in America," Culture Center, 333 N. 14th St.

Jan. 23 -- noon, brown-lunch discussion, "The Diversity Shift in Rural Nebraska," Judy Lorenzen, assistant extension educator, Nebraska Union Crib.

Jan. 24 -- 6 p.m., Afrikan People's Union banquet, "Fight Today . . . Live Tomorrow," Tony Brown keynote speaker, singer Deah Harriot and the APU Gospel Choir, buffet dinner, Nebraska Union; Advance tickets will be available at a booth in the Nebraska Union at $15 for students, $20 for non-students. Tickets at the door are $20 for students, $25 for non-students.

CONTACTS: Jake Kirkland, Co-Chair, MLK Committee, (402) 472-9315; and
Renita Tyrance, Co-Chair, MLK Committee, (402) 472-6151