{"id":35908,"date":"2025-01-17T14:48:37","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T19:48:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=35908"},"modified":"2025-01-17T14:48:37","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T19:48:37","slug":"furman-honors-mlks-legacy-of-building-the-beloved-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/furman-honors-mlks-legacy-of-building-the-beloved-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Furman honors MLK\u2019s legacy of building the \u2018Beloved Community\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

To the tune of \u201cLift Every Voice and Sing,\u201d Furman University brought Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s lessons to bear Friday as it sought to be part of King\u2019s \u201cBeloved Community.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The MLK Community Breakfast on Friday, Jan. 17, in the Younts Conference Center was an opportunity to focus on King\u2019s vision of freeing the world of poverty, racism and violence.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all here from different pathways of life to celebrate not just a man, but a movement,\u201d said Furman President Elizabeth Davis.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A

Larry McCullough, director of the Furman Gospel Ensemble, leads a group of singers during the annual MLK Community Breakfast that was held in the Younts Conference Center on Friday morning, January 17, 2025.<\/p><\/div>\n

The morning\u2019s keynote speaker was political strategist <\/span>L. Joy Williams<\/span><\/a>, president of the Brooklyn NAACP and host of the podcast Sunday Civics. Her passion for civics helped pass the New York John Lewis Voting Rights Act and establish a commission on reparations. But she said that drive comes from a long line of Black women who have found ways to exercise their power despite opposition: Journalist Ida B. Wells, civil rights activist Ella Baker, Freedom Rides organizer Diane Nash and South Carolina\u2019s <\/span>Modjeska Simkins<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe key part of all of those examples is the power that is in their civic engagement,\u201d Williams said. \u201cMy purpose is to bring the power back in civic engagement.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what King brought to the forefront, she said. He had the ability to rally millions to challenge systemic oppression and wielded the power of collective action to meet people\u2019s needs and change discriminatory social conditions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Education, Williams said, was how formerly enslaved people created communities and harnessed their power. She said access to education continues to be an essential tool in sparking political engagement.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the first thing the formerly enslaved immediately created \u2013 establishing schools,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I educate you, then you have access to the world.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A

Audience members give L. Joy Williams, not show, a standing ovation after her speech during the annual MLK Community Breakfast that was held in the Younts Conference Center on Friday morning, January 17, 2025.<\/p><\/div>\n

Jubilee Baptist Church Pastor Reggie Garrett \u201998 represents more than 1,200 Black Furman graduates as chairman of the <\/span>Black Alumni Council<\/span><\/a>. He praised Williams\u2019 empowering message and encouraged young Black students to continue the work laid down by previous generations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo not forget where you come from. Immerse yourself not only in the university culture, but in what it means to be a Black student on campus.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Senior health sciences major <\/span>Amanda Nnodim<\/span><\/a> \u201925 found her community in Furman and has been helping other students feel welcome in it as well. As the student speaker at Friday\u2019s community breakfast, she described her own \u201cfoundation of love.\u201d At Furman, that foundation was built through her <\/span>Alpha Kappa Alpha<\/span><\/a> sisters, her role on the Furman Student Diversity Council and the <\/span>Pathways Program<\/span><\/a>. Nnodim serves as a Pathways peer mentor and a first-year academic advisor.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou never know what\u2019s going to work for you until you immerse yourself in it. We each have our own pathway to community,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s how the \u2018Beloved Community\u2019 is formed.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students will put King\u2019s lessons to work for their community through Furman\u2019s <\/span>Heller Service Corps<\/span><\/a>. Volunteers are encouraged to join the <\/span>MLK Day of Service<\/span><\/a> efforts from 10 a.m. to noon Monday, Jan. 20 at the Watkins Room in the Trone Student Center for a variety of service projects with community partners on and off campus.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keynote speaker L. Joy Williams called on Furman\u2019s students, faculty and staff to take an active role in civic engagement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":35893,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[1799],"class_list":["post-35908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diversity-equity-and-inclusion","tag-mlk-community-breakfast"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35908"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35913,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35908\/revisions\/35913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}