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7TH ANNUAL GREATER HARRISBURG MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR DAY OF SERVICE

Hosting Organization: Pennsylvania Family Coalition in partnership with

The United Way of Capitol City | The Harrisburg School District | Service for Peace | Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg | Harrisburg Police Department | Target Corporation | Jump Street | The Pennsylvania Refugee Women’s Network | Imani African Christian Church| Center for Schools and Communities | Praise & Play Child Care Center | Harrisburg Kiwanis Club | Rejoice, Inc.|Bethesda Mission | Lingo Memorial Church |Central Pennsylvania Food Bank | YWCA Women’s Shelter (partial listing)

Hosting Committtee Members:

Dr. Sybil Knight-Burney, Assistant Superintendent, Harrisburg School District

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Why Serve?

During his lifetime, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. worked tirelessly toward a dream of equality. He believed in a nation of freedom and justice for all, and encouraged all citizens to live up to the purpose and potential of America by applying the principles of nonviolence to make this country a better place to live, creating the Beloved Community. The King Day of Service is a way to transform Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and teachings into community service that helps solve social problems. That service may meet a tangible need, such as fixing up a school or senior center, or it may meet a need of the spirit, such as building a sense of community or mutual responsibility. On this day, Americans of every age and background celebrate Dr. King through service projects that: Strengthen Communities Dr. King recognized the power of service to strengthen communities and achieve common goals. Through his words and example, Dr. King challenged individuals to take action and lift up their neighbors and communities through service. Empower Individuals Dr. King believed each individual possessed the power to lift himself or herself up no matter what his or her circumstances – rich or poor, black or white, man or woman. Whether teaching literacy skills, helping an older adult surf the Web, or helping an individual build the skills they need to acquire a job, acts of service can help others improve their own lives while doing so much for those who serve, as well. Bridge Barriers In his fight for civil rights, Dr. King inspired Americans to think beyond themselves, look past differences, and work toward equality. Serving side by side, community service bridges barriers between people and teaches us that in the end, we are more alike than we are different. These ideas of unity, purpose, and the great things that can happen when we work together toward a common goal – are just some of the many reasons we honor Dr. King through service on this special holiday.

The DREAM Performing Artist Schowcase

Volunteer for the DREAM Performing Artist Showcase by emailing Ms. Phyllis Bennett, Program Director at [email protected] or via telephone at 717 561 0314 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 717 561 0314 end_of_the_skype_highlighting. Be part of this historical program celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. King. Perform in front of an audience of 1400 people on Dr. King’s birthday, Monday, January 18, 2010! The deadline for volunteers is November 10, 2009. Alternatively, call 570 842 3205 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 570 842 3205 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

DREAM performers backstage

Students performing at the Whitaker Center

Harrisburg area students and young artists performed at the Whitaker Center for the Sciences and the Arts on January 19, 2009 in Harrisburg honoring the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We thank our sponsors: Hilton Harrisburg Hotel, Walmart, Sams Club, Hershey Corporation, Hershey Entertainment, Highmark, PIB & Associates, Citizens Bank and www.SpeakersAccess.com and all our volunteers and parents for their dedication. Million Acts of Kindness Campaign: Katya Swarts

A record number of Americans honored Dr. King by volunteering on the January 19, 2009 King Day of Service. More than 13,000 service projects took place across the country. Americans made it “a day on, not a day off” by delivering meals, refurbishing schools, reading to children, signing up mentors, and much, much more.

The performances of our students was absolutely awesome! Over 700 attendees enjoyed the two-hour show featuring our talented students performing from classic piano, break dance to rap music and much more. An evening to remember!

POSTER CONTEST

In partnership with the Harrisburg School District, the the PA Family Coalition sponsored a POSTER CONTEST. Awards were presented at the Dream Artist Showcase on Jan. 19, 2009 at the Whittaker Center in Harrisburg, PA. Students are presented with scholarships and and winners are recognized on stage, during the DREAM Artist Showcase at the Whitaker Center for the Sciences and the Arts.

Ten Outstanding Values of Dr. King

At the heart of Dr. King’s philosophy was the concept of service. He believed that a person’s worth should not be measured by his or her color, culture, or class but rather by his or her commitment to making a better life for all. He said, “We must work increasingly to uplift this nation that we love to a higher destiny, to a higher plateau, to a more noble expression of humanness.” As he once said, “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.’’ During his lifetime, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sought to forge the common ground on which people from all walks of life could join together as equals to address important community issues. This was driven by his commitment to enduring principles and a set of values that he lived his life according to.

Some of these are:

1. Courage: Dr. King believed that if you had nothing you were willing to die for, you had nothing you were living for.

2. Non-violence: Even when attacked by police dogs, police clubs, and water hoses, Dr. King and his followers refused to retaliate with physical violence.

3. Soul force: The power of a person’s love and humanity to awaken other people’s consciences.

4. Justice: Dr. King said he wanted to be remembered as a “drum major for justice.” In spite of his non-violence and soul force, he considered that “an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere” and had to be confronted.

5. Community: Dr. King believed that all people are brothers and sisters. He believed that oppression of any part of the human family hurt the whole human family. He envisioned a day when people of all colors, nations, and religions could sit down at the “table of brotherhood.” He called his ideal the “beloved community” and it included every human being.

6. Love: even the enemy is a “neighbor” who must be loved into doing right-for the enemy’s sake as well as for the sakes of his or her victims.

7. Suffering and sacrifice: those who would stand up for justice must be willing to endure much for the sake of their cause.

8. Human dignity: all people deserve to be treated with equality and respect simply because they are human beings.

9. Forgiveness: the victim must forgive the victimizer and make room for repentance and brotherhood.

10. Faith: eventually right will prevail because the universe is founded upon justice.

History

Participation in the King Day of Service has grown steadily over the past decade, with hundreds of thousands of Americans each year engaging in projects such as tutoring and mentoring children, painting schools and senior centers, delivering meals, building homes, and reflecting on Dr. King’s life and teachings. Many of the projects started on King Day continue to engage volunteers beyond the holiday and impact the community year-round.

Although the scope of the event grows every year, many people still are not aware of the service component of the holiday. By encouraging the participation of as many organizations as possible, we hope to make next year’s King Day of Service the biggest and best ever, engaging more people in service that honors Dr. King’s life and teachings.

In 1994 Congress passed the King Holiday and Service Act, designating the King Holiday as a national day of volunteer service. Instead of a day off from work or school, Congress asked Americans of all backgrounds and ages to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy by turning community concerns into citizen action. The King Day of Service brings together people who might not ordinarily meet, breaks down barriers that have divided us in the past, leads to better understanding and ongoing relationships, and is an opportunity to recruit new volunteers for your ongoing work.

In association with MLK Day, we hosted also 19 projects involving the following organizations, United Way, Big Brother Big Sister, American Heart Association, American Red Cross, YMCA, YWCA, among others. We received local media coverage and proclamations from the Governor, Congressman and local leaders.

Sponsors included: The Harrisburg Hilton Hotel, Hershey Entertainment Corporation, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Highmark, Citizens Bank, M&T Bank, among others.

The Whitaker Center for Performing Arts and Sciences - 1400 people enjoyed the performances by our students honoring Dr. King.

MLK Day of Service - Bethesda Youth Mission - Key Clubs students at work. 19 projects were held in the Greater Harrisburg area involving over 2500 volunteers.

About Dr. King

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a vital figure of the modern era. His lectures and dialogues stirred the concern and sparked the conscience of a generation. The movements and marches he led brought significant changes in the fabric of American life through his courage and selfless devotion. This devotion gave direction to thirteen years of civil rights activities. His charismatic leadership inspired men and women, young and old, in this nation and around the world.

Dr. King’s concept of “somebodiness”, which symbolized the celebration of human worth and the conquest of subjugation, gave black and poor people hope and a sense of dignity. His philosophy of nonviolent direct action, and his strategies for rational and non-destructive social change, galvanized the conscience of this nation and reordered its priorities. His wisdom, his words, his actions, his commitment, and his dream for a new way of life are intertwined with the American experience.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s maternal grandparents were the Reverend Adam Daniel Williams, second pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, and Jenny Parks Williams. His paternal grandparents were James Albert and Delia King, sharecroppers on a farm in Stockbridge, Georgia.

He married Coretta Scott, the younger daughter of Obadiah and Bernice McMurry Scott of Marion, Alabama, on June 18, 1953. The marriage ceremony took place on the lawn of the Scott’s home in Marion, Alabama. The Rev. King, Sr. performed the service, with Mrs. Edythe Bagley, the sister of Coretta Scott King as maid of honor, and the Rev. A.D. King, the brother of Martin Luther King, Jr., as best man.

Four children were born to Dr. and Mrs. King:

• Yolanda Denise (November 17, 1955 - May 15, 2007, Montgomery, Alabama)
• Martin Luther III (October 23, 1957, Montgomery, Alabama)
• Dexter Scott (January 30, 1961, Atlanta, Georgia)
• Bernice Albertine (March 28, 1963, Atlanta, Georgia)

Education

At the age of five, Martin Luther King, Jr. began school at the Yonge Street Elementary School in Atlanta. When his age was discovered, he was not permitted to continue in school and did not resume his education until he was six. Following Yonge School, he was enrolled in David T. Howard Elementary School. He also attended the Atlanta University Laboratory School and Booker T. Washington High School. Because of his high scores on the college entrance examinations in his junior year of high school, he advanced to Morehouse College without formal graduation from Booker T. Washington. Having skipped both the ninth and twelfth grades, Dr. King entered Morehouse at the age of fifteen.

In 1948, he graduated from Morehouse College with a B.A. degree in Sociology. That fall he enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. While attending Crozer, he also studied at the University of Pennsylvania. He was elected President of the Senior Class and delivered the valedictory address. He won the Peral Plafkner Award as the most outstanding student, and he received the J. Lewis Crozer Fellowship for graduate study at a university of his choice. He was awarded a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer in 1951.

In September of 1951, Martin Luther King, Jr. began doctoral studies in Systematic Theology at Boston University. He also studied at Harvard University. His dissertation, A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman, was completed in 1955, and the Ph.D. degree was awarded on June 5, 1955.

Honorary Degrees

Dr. King was awarded honorary degrees from various colleges and universities in the United States and several foreign countries. They include:

• Doctor of Humane Letters, Morehouse College
• Doctor of Laws, Howard University
• Doctor of Divinity, Chicago Theological Seminary
• Doctor of Laws, Morgan State University
• Doctor of Humanities, Central State University
• Doctor of Divinity, Boston University
• Doctor of Laws, Lincoln University
• Doctor of Laws, University of Bridgeport
• Doctor of Civil Laws, Bard College
• Doctor of Letters, Keuka College
• Doctor of Divinity, Wesleyan College
• Doctor of Laws, Jewish Theological Seminary
• Doctor of Laws, Yale University
• Doctor of Divinity, Springfield College
• Doctor of Laws, Hofstra University
• Doctor of Humane Letters, Oberlin College
• Doctor of Social Science, Amsterdam Free University
• Doctor of Divinity, St. Peter’s College
• Doctor of Civil Law, University of New Castle, Upon Tyne
• Doctor of Laws, Grinnell College

Career

Martin Luther King, Jr. entered the Christian ministry and was ordained in February 1948 at the age of nineteen at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia. Following his ordination, he became Assistant Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church. Upon completion of his studies at Boston University, he accepted the call of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He was the pastor of Dexter Avenue from September 1954 to November 1959, when he resigned to move to Atlanta to direct the activities of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. From 1960 until his death in 1968, he was co-pastor with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Dr. King was a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights Movement. He was elected President of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organization that was responsible for the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott from 1955 to 1956 (381 days). He was arrested thirty times for his participation in civil rights activities. He was a founder and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference from 1957 to 1968. He was also Vice President of the National Sunday School and Baptist Teaching Union Congress of the National Baptist Convention. He was a member of several national and local boards of directors and served on the boards of trustees of numerous institutions and agencies. Dr. King was elected to membership in several learned societies including the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Awards

Dr. King received numerous awards for his leadership in the Civil Rights Movement. Among them were the following:

• Selected as one of the ten most outstanding personalities of the year by Time Magazine, 1957.
• Listed in Who’s Who in America, 1957.
• The Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, 1957.
• The Russwurm Award from the National Newspaper Publishers, 1957.
• The Second Annual Achievement Award from The Guardian Association of the Police Department of New York, 1958.
• Selected as one of the sixteen world leaders who had contributed most to the advancement of freedom during 1959 by Ling Magazine of New Delhi, India.
• Named Man of the Year, by Time Magazine, 1963.
• Named American of the Decade, by the Laundry, Dry Cleaning, and Die Workers, International Union, 1963.
• The John Dewey Award, from the United Federation of Teachers, 1964.
• The John F. Kennedy Award, from the Catholic Interracial Council of Chicago, 1964.
• The Nobel Peace Prize, at age 35, the youngest man, second American, and the third black man to be so honored, 1964.
• The Marcus Garvey Prize for Human Rights, presented by the Jamaican Government, posthumously, 1968.
• The Rosa L. Parks award, presented by The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, posthumously, 1968.
• The Aims Field-Wolf Award for his book, Stride Toward Freedom.

The above awards and others, along with numerous citations, are in the Archives of The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia.

Publications

Although extremely involved with his family, his church, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, activities for peace and justice, his world travels, and his many speaking engagements, Dr. King wrote six books and numerous articles. His volumes include:

• Stride Toward Freedom, (New York: Harper & Row, 1958). The story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
• The Measure of a Man, (Philadelphia: Pilgrim Press, 1959). A selection of sermons.
• Why We Can’t Wait, (New York: Harper & Row, 1963). The story of the Birmingham Campaign.
• Strength to Love, (New York: Harper & Row, 1963). A selection of sermons.
• Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? (New York: Harper & Row, 1967). Reflections on the problems of today’s world, the nuclear arms race, etc.
• The Trumpet of Conscience, (New York: Harper & Row, 1968). The Massey Lectures. Sponsored by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. (Posthumously).

Death

Dr. King was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. Dr. King was in Memphis to help lead sanitation workers in a protest against low wages and intolerable working conditions. James Earl Ray was arrested in London, England on June 8, 1968, and returned to Memphis, Tennessee on July 19, 1969 to stand trial for the assassination of Dr. King. On March 9, 1969, before coming to trial, he entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to ninety-nine years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary.

Birth and Family