Ball State University students and administrators will join Muncie community members to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Tuesday at a "Music of the Civil Rights Era" concert.
Charles Payne, assistant provost for diversity and director of Diversity Policy Institute, said the concert, which will be at 8 p.m. in Sursa Performance Hall, would feature the Ball State School of Music Concert Choir, University Singers Glee Club, a student soloist, The Planet Earth Singers of Muncie and The Voices of Triumph Gospel Choir.
Meryl Mantione, director of the school of music, said the school co-sponsored the concert, along with the provost's office.
"Music has played an important role in many of the issues important in our culture, involving race and struggles for equality," she said.
In between performances, which will include traditional African and African-American music, recorded excerpts from King's speeches will play, she said.
"Students today were not alive to hear Dr. King speak," she said. "I was alive and at least heard him on a recording. They didn't get to hear the important message that he brought, and the impact he had across the nation."
Payne said the concert was the first of the events throughout the upcoming weeks in celebration of King's holiday.
This is the first time Ball State has hosted this many events to celebrate the holiday, which is held annually on the third Monday in January, he said.
Melvin Oliver, a sociology professor at the University of California Santa Barbara, will give the annual lecture at 5 p.m. Sunday in Pruis Hall, Payne said. His "What Has Happened to the Dream?" presentation deals with economic injustices such as housing inequality, Payne said.
The lecture is part of Ball State administrators' efforts to include educational events in the celebration, he said.
"Ball State is interested in doing something scholarly that's related to diversity," he said. "That's great because it says the university appreciates what people like King attempted to accomplish."
King's philosophy was to promote equality for all races, genders and religions, Payne said.
He believed non-violent protests were the best way to change people's minds about American civil rights, Payne said.
"His message was of not only agitation and persistence, but also of non-violence," he said. "He said the aftermath of violence is bitterness, while the aftermath of non-violence is redemption."
The events will help improve attitudes and race, gender and religious relations on campus, he said.
Next week's Unity Week events include the annual MLK Day breakfast at 7 a.m. Monday in Cardinal Hall, Payne said.
The annual community breakfast has had crowds of more than 300 people in the past few years, he said.
"We would like to see even more than that," he said. "We're trying to bring people together."
Derick Virgil, director of the Multicultural Center, said the center would host a lecture Tuesday from Terrence Roberts, one of the famous civil rights group "The Little Rock Nine."
"Roberts is literally a living piece of history," he said. "He represents what we as a country went through and what we can learn from it so that we don't make the same mistakes again."
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