MLK Distinguished Lecture Series

The Martin Luther King Distinguished Lecture Series seeks applications for a grant of up to $3000 toward bringing to institutions in the Tuscaloosa Consortium for Higher Education (TCHE) and the Tuscaloosa community speakers who embody the ideals enunciated by the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Criteria for the speakers include the following:

  • Scholars/lecturers should be of substantial stature and able to attract and address a diverse audience of both the academic and the greater community.

  • Speakers can be drawn from various disciplines: business, economics, and entrepreneurship; social and human sciences; natural sciences and medicine; arts/entertainment; and technology.

  • The speaker's presentation must focus on the goals of Martin Luther King Jr. and that acknowledgement must be made within the lecture.

  • Speakers must be willing to present and/or be involved in activities on at least two of the three TCHE campuses.

  • Preference will be given to speakers nominated by a cross-disciplinary group.

Past and scheduled speakers in the series include:

  • Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles, minister at Monumental Baptist Church in Memphis for 47 years and was with The Rev. Martin Luther King at the Lorraine Motel when he was assassinated

  • Dr. K.P.S. Kamath, physician and active public speaker

  • Alice Walker, novelist, author of The Color Purple

  • Dr. Christian Davenport, associate professor of political science at the University of Maryland-College Park, senior fellow and director of research at the Center for International Development and Conflict Management

  • Dr. Gary Orfield, professor of education and social policy at Harvard University, and co-director of the Civil Rights Project

  • Dr. Paul Schulte, director, Education and Information Division for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control

  • Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Avalon Professor in the Humanities, University of Pennsylvania, and National Public Radio commentator

  • Rev. James M. Lawson, former Director of Nonviolent Education for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and current National Chair of the Fellowship of Reconciliation

  • Dr. Stephanie Luce, assistant professor of economics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

  • Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of Sweet Honey In The Rock, Grammy Award-winning African American female a cappella ensemble

  • Dr. William Darity, Cary C. Boshamer chair of economics at the University of North Carolina and research professor of public policy studies, African American studies, and economics at Duke University

  • Panelists Dr. Linda Reed, associate professor of history at the University of Houston; Mary Stanton, activist and author; Susana Almanza, founding member and executive director of PODER (People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources; and Dorothy Turner, 1992 recipient of the Arthur L. Green Civil and Human Rights Award by the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies for her lifelong dedicated advocacy for the protection of human rights and equal justice for all

  • Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, one of the civil rights movement's earliest and most respected leaders, founder of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and co-organizer of the Montgomery bus boycott and of other demonstrations that lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Applications must be submitted electronically and should include:

  • The specific topic of the presentation

  • An itinerary of the speaker's visit outlining all activities on involved campuses

  • The curriculum vitae of the speaker

  • Letters of support from involved departments including:

    1. a plan of action for student, faculty, staff and community attendance
    2. the amount that each department will contribute to the overall speaker's fee and expenses

Please send applications to Dr. Samory Pruitt, UA vice president for Community Affairs and chair of the Martin Luther King Jr. Realizing the Dream Committee, at samory.pruitt@ua.edu.