January 20-21, 2008

Martin Luther King

A Celebration of Dr. King's Global Legacy
The purpose of this celebration of the Taft Martin Luther King Day is to remind the community—a diverse and international one—of the way King’s legacy is a distinctly global one. In this way, the celebration is very much an extension of last year’s celebration, which reminded Taft that King’s legacy belonged to all of us.

View photos from the day

...and more photos of the day including the Class Dinners.

Sunday, January 20

8:00-9:00 p.m.
The King Lecture
Keynote speaker, Dr. Gloria White-Hammond

Dr. White-Hammond, a Boston-based pediatrician and minister, is a leading spokeswoman on issues of health, slavery in the Sudan and Darfur, and youth development. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School and co-pastor of the Bethel A.M.E church (a role she shares with her husband), she has traveled to Sudan six times, to confront what the UN has termed “the worst humanitarian crisis in the world” and to find ways to liberate men, women and children enslaved as a result of the famine and civil wars. She co-founded a group that has raised money to help women become financially independent and also literate through increased grain milling. In addition she works with Boston innercity youth, both as minister and physician.

A reception will follow in the Choral Room.

Monday, January 21

8:00-8:50 a.m.
Prayer Breakfast in Choral Room

Athletics, Academics, and Arts Programs for Local Middle-School Students
9:00 a.m. Arrival of Middle School guests, Reception and Continental Breakfast
9:15 MLK Stories, Music, Leadership in Field House
10:00 Arts and Athletics Clinics begin
10:15-11:00 Taft Admissions Presentation to Community Leaders in Library
11:30 Clinics end and students return to Field House for lunch with their groups
12:15 Departure to Waterbury

9:00-10:15 a.m.
MLK Convocation in Bingham Auditorium
The Power of Love and Forgiveness – “The Amy Biehl Story”

Amy Biehl was a Fulbright scholar who was committed to human rights and in 1993 was murdered by a mob in Cape Town. Her parents, Linda and Peter Biehl, created a foundation in her honor and have been recognized by countless schools, universities and organizations in the U.S. and South Africa for their leadership in ending racial violence. Her four killers were granted amnesty during the Truth and Reconciliation hearings, a move supported by the Biehls, and today, two of the men involved in her killing work at the foundation. Linda Biehl, Kevin Chaplin (CEO of the foundation) and Easy Nofemela, one of the four men involved in her killing, will speak on reconciliation and Amy Biehl’s legacy. Annabel Smith will serve as moderator.

10:30-12:30 p.m.
Faculty- and Student-run workshops celebrating the values of MLK’s Legacy

2:00-3:30 p.m.
“King is Global” – Celebrating King’s Legacy around the Globe in Bingham Auditorium

MLK Class Dinners
5:00 p.m. Lower Mids in Upper Dining Room (sit-down format)
Upper Mids in Lower Dining Room (Quaker format)

6:30 p.m. Mids in Upper Dining Room (sit-down format)
Seniors in Lower Dining Room (Quaker format)