Constance Rice, Rita Sanders Geier and Cordelia Taylor, three African-American women dedicated to making a difference in their communities, will speak at Vanderbilt University Monday, Jan. 15.
Their lectures – Taylor’s at noon, Geier’s at 3:30 p.m. and Rice’s at 6:30 p.m. – help kick off the university’s 2007 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Series scheduled Jan. 15-23. This year’s series’ theme is “Living the Legacy: Inquiries into Inclusion (Who’s In and Who’s Out).” All series events are free and open to the public.
Rice will deliver her address at the series’ keynote event at 6:30 p.m. in Vanderbilt’s Benton Chapel. The Fisk Jubilee Singers will perform prior to her talk and a candlelight vigil will follow her remarks.
Rice is co-founder and co-director of The Advancement Project, a public policy and legal action group that supports organizations working to end community problems and address racial, class and other barriers to opportunity. The group has offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Rice is based in the Los Angeles office, which focuses on issues of equity and access with the goal of ensuring upward mobility for all Californians.
She has received more than 50 major awards for her leadership of diverse coalitions and her non-traditional approaches to litigating major cases involving police misconduct, employment discrimination and fair public resource allocation. She successfully co-litigated class-action, civil rights cases winning more than $1.6 billion in policy changes and remedies during her nine-year tenure in the Los Angeles office of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund Inc.
Rice has been a frequent commentator on National Public Radio and is cousin to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Geier will give Vanderbilt Law School‘s MLK Jr. holiday lecture at 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 15. She is a Vanderbilt Law School alumnus who filed suit against the state of Tennessee in 1968 for violating the law by maintaining a segregated system of higher education. The suit ended in late 2006 when all parties involved agreed to ask a federal judge to dismiss the case because the state had met the challenges to increase equality and diversity at state colleges and universities set by the suit. As part of the agreement settling the suit, historically black Tennessee State University will receive $40 million in state and federal funds over the next five years.
Taylor will speak at noon in 208 Light Hall at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. A nurse and former nursing home administrator, she is the founder and director of Family House Inc., a faith-based residential facility in Milwaukee’s inner city serving seniors and disabled adults. Taylor started Family House, which promotes activities, mobility and self-sufficiency for residents, in 1987 out of concern about how many seniors are treated in traditional nursing homes. The facility has been expanded to include an after-school program, food bank and other community services. Taylor and the facility have won many awards and honors.
For a complete listing of events scheduled for the 2007 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Series at Vanderbilt, visit www.vanderbilt.edu/mlk/.
**EDITOR’S NOTE: Please see the attached list for a complete schedule of events to be held at Vanderbilt as part of its 2007 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Series.
Media Contact: Princine Lewis, 615-322-NEWS
princine.l.lewis@vanderbilt.edu
Schedule of Events
Living the Legacy: Inquiries into Inclusion (Who’s In and Who’s Out)
Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Series
Vanderbilt University
Jan. 15-23, 2007
All events are free and open to the public.
For more information and updates, visit www.vanderbilt.edu/mlk/
Monday, Jan. 15- Thursday, Feb. 15
Harold Lowe Civil Rights Photograph Collection
Sarratt Gallery, Sarratt Student Center
A collection of powerful black and white photographs documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Nashville. Photos on loan courtesy of the Nashville Public Library Special Collections Division, The Nashville Room
Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.
Monday, Jan. 15
Cordelia Taylor, founder and director of Family House Inc.
Noon, 208 Light Hall, Vanderbilt Medical Center campus
Taylor, a nurse and former nursing home administrator, founded Family House Inc. in Milwaukee’s inner city in 1987 out of concern about how many seniors are treated in traditional nursing homes. Originally started as a faith-based residential facility for seniors and disabled adults, Family House has expanded to include an after-school program, a food bank, and other community services. Taylor’s talk is organized by Vanderbilt School of Nursing and Vanderbilt School of Medicine.
Vanderbilt University Medical and Nursing students will participate in volunteer activities with selected agencies throughout the Metro community.
Rita Sanders Geier, civil rights pioneer, executive counselor on interagency adjudication, U.S. Social Security Administration
3:30 p.m., Vanderbilt Law School
Geier, a Vanderbilt Law School alumnus, filed suit against the state of Tennessee in 1968 for violating the law by maintaining a segregated system of higher education. The suit ended in late 2006 when all parties involved agreed to ask a federal judge to dismiss the case because the state had met the challenges to increase equality and diversity at state colleges and universities set by the suit. As part of the agreement settling the suit, historically black Tennessee State University will receive $40 million in state and federal funds over the next five years.
Steven J. Taylor, co-director, Center on Human Policy, Law and Disability Studies, Syracuse University
4:10 p.m., Room 241, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center/MRL Building
During World War II, 3,000 conscientious objectors (COs) performed alternative public service at state mental hospitals and training schools. Shocked by the conditions they observed, the COs led a series of major exposés in leading newspapers and news magazines and convinced major public figures to support reform. Taylor’s lecture will explore the acts of conscience performed by the COs and will address broader issues of civic responsibility and the illusive quest for social justice—themes related to the memory and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Taylor specializes in the sociology of disability, disability studies and disability policy.
KEYNOTE EVENT
6:30 p.m., Benton Chapel, Vanderbilt Divinity School
Constance Rice, co-founder and co-director, The Advancement Project
The Advancement Project, a public policy and legal action group that supports organizations working to end community problems and address racial, class and other barriers to opportunity, has offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Rice is based in the Los Angeles office. She has received more than 50 major awards for her leadership of diverse coalitions and her non-traditional approaches to litigating major cases involving police misconduct, employment discrimination and fair public resource allocation. She successfully co-litigated class-action, civil rights cases winning more than $1.6 billion in policy changes and remedies during her nine-year tenure in the Los Angeles office of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund Inc.
*Fisk University’s world renowned Jubilee singers will perform prior to Rice’s talk and a candlelight vigil will follow her lecture.
Tuesday, Jan. 16
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service
Noon-5p.m.
Vanderbilt student organizations will spend the day helping the Nashville community as part of the national day of volunteer service honoring King’s legacy. For information about the national event, visit www.mlkday.gov .
Thursday, Jan. 18
“Prophetic Spirituality for Social Justice Ministry” – a meeting of the Martin Luther King Ministry Forum
6 p.m., Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center
Religious scholars, pastors and leaders in justice ministry will engage in dialogue with key texts. This event is organized by the Vanderbilt Divinity School’s Black Seminarians.
Saturday, Jan. 20
Martin Luther King Jr. Oratorical and Essay Contest Winners’ Reading & Luncheon
Noon, Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center
Young people from the Nashville community will recite their winning essays and poems on the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. The winning students, chosen by a Vanderbilt University committee, will receive awards and recognition and will be honored at a special luncheon/reception.
Tuesday, Jan. 23
Howard Winant, professor of sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara
7 p.m., Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center
Winant is author of The World Is a Ghetto: Race and Democracy Since World War II; “Durban, Globalization and the World After 9/11: Toward a New Politics,” Poverty and Race; “Race in the New Millennium,” and Colorlines: Race, Culture, Action. He is also a prime force in the creation of the New Racial Studies Project at UC Santa Barbara, a think tank that focuses on the dynamics of race and racism in the 21st century.
Thursday, Jan. 25
The Rev. James Lawson, Distinguished Visiting Professor, Vanderbilt University
12:30 p.m., Wyatt Center Rotunda, Peabody College
Lawson will deliver Peabody College‘s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture as part of the school’s annual Changing Lives Award presentation.