Celebrate Martin Luther King's Legacy on Jan. 21

Teresa Younger, executive director of Connecticut's Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, will be the keynote speaker at the Jan. 21 event.

The University of Hartford will observe Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 21, with an inspirational program of music and reflections commemorating the life and legacy of the civil rights leader.

The program, titled “The Right to Dream,” will take place at 11 a.m. in Lincoln Theater. The event is free and open to all.

The keynote speaker will be Teresa Younger, executive director of Connecticut's Permanent Commission on the Status of Women.

The event also will feature musical selections by the University of Hartford Magnet School Chorus and by Hartt School faculty; a vocal performance by Shauntice Marshall '14; and spoken word poetry by Bo-Edward Lawrence '16. In addition, winners of the 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest will be recognized, and the winning essays will be published in the event program.

Keynote speaker Teresa Younger has a long history of commitment to civil rights and civil liberties. Prior to joining the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, Younger was Director of Affiliate Organizational Development at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) national office. Before that, she was the first woman and the first African American to serve as Executive Director of the ACLU of Connecticut. Younger is president of the board of the Girl Scouts of Connecticut, and also serves on the boards of the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University, the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut and the National Association of Commissions for Women. She was honored by the Connecticut NAACP as one of the “100 Most Influential Blacks in the State of Connecticut” in both 2009 and 2011, and was named by the Hartford Business Journal in 2008 as one of  “Eight Remarkable Women in Business.”

The University's Martin Luther King Day Planning Committee will continue paying tribute to the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement with a three-part film series beginning Jan. 29. Check upcoming issues of UNotes for details about the film series.