Commemoration Of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., At Williams
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - On Wednesday, Feb. 18, human rights activist Dorothy Cotton will deliver an address at Williams College commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The talk, titled "The Life and Legacy of Dr. King, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the '62 Center on the Williams College campus. (This event was originally scheduled for January 22.)Part of King's inner circle, Cotton was the highest ranking female official of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), where she served as the director of the Citizen Education Program for 12 years.
In the words of King himself, "Dorothy Cotton's bravery, insight, and steadfastness have been invaluable to the Movement."
Cotton first met King in Petersburg, Va., where she was working with Wyatt T. Walker, the regional director of the NAACP. When King invited Walker to help build the SCLC in Atlanta, Ga., Walker brought his primary associates - including Cotton - with him.
According to Cotton, the movement quickly "became her life." In Atlanta, she served as the field operation vice president for the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change. Cotton played an integral role in the 1963 Birmingham campaign and in the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers' strike. She accompanied King to Oslo, Norway, where he received the Nobel Peace Prize.
More recently, Cotton was the director of student activities at Cornell University, a position she held for nine years.
She has delivered speeches at more hundreds of universities and colleges, including Stanford and Brown universities. Cotton has also traveled the world and spoken in China, Vietnam, and the former Soviet Union to promote the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement and "to motivate and empower audiences to realize their individual and collective capabilities."
Cotton received her B.A. from Virginia State College and her master's in special education from Boston University.
This event is sponsored by the W. Ford Schumann '50 Program in Democratic Studies, the Multicultural Center, and the Center for Community Engagement.
Although it is free, tickets are required. For more information, contact the '62 Center box office, Tuesday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m., at 413-597-2425.
