East Hill Notes: Cornell’s King Lecture, future and past

In a week highlighted by Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we look ahead to Cornell’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration on Feb. 13, 7 p.m. in Sage Chapel. This year’s speaker is Richard T. Ford, the George E. Osborne Professor of Law at Stanford University, who will speak on engaging the future of racial justice and admissions in higher education.

https://law.stanford.edu/directory/richard-thompson-ford/

A leading expert on civil rights and antidiscrimination law, Ford plans to “articulate the crucial importance for society and for colleges and universities to advance racial justice and to improve access for historically marginalized communities to higher education.”

Stanford University law professor Richard T. Ford will speak at Sage Chapel Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. as part of Cornell University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration. Photo Provided

The annual King lecture has a storied history, and is free and open to the public. Its traditional venue – Sage Chapel – has hosted many prominent speakers over the years, from Carl Sagan and Jane Goodall, to Daniel Berrigan, Elie Wiesel and Arianna Huffington, and, most importantly, Martin Luther King, both Sr. and Jr.

Also in this mix was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, the late Yolanda King (1955-2007), who gave the 2005 King commemorative lecture titled, “Open My Eyes, Open My Soul: Discovering the Power of Diversity.” to a packed Chapel audience.

When King’s father was assassinated on April 4, 1968, the 12-year-old Yolanda King was noted for her composure during the highly public funeral and mourning events. She joined her mother and siblings in marches, and she was lauded by such noted figures as Harry Belafonte, who established a trust fund for her and her siblings.

In the 1990s, she supported a retrial of her father’s convicted assassin James Earl Ray and publicly stated that she did not hate him.  Later in life, she had grown to become an active supporter for gay rights and an ally to the LGBT community, as was her mother Coretta Scott King.

Ms. King, the first-born daughter of Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King Jr., was also a much-sought-after motivational speaker and teacher. Yolanda King addressed Fortune 500 companies and the United Nations as well as religious, civic and educational groups in the United States and abroad. She was founder and CEO of Higher Ground Productions, a California-based organization dedicated to social change and world peace by advocating diversity and unity.

King was also an accomplished actress and performed the role of Mama in A Raisin in the Sun at Cornell’s Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, the year before she gave the King lecture.

Yolanda King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., spoke at Cornell in 2005. Photo provided

Yolanda King served as a spokesperson for her mother during the illness that would eventually lead to her death. King outlived her mother by only 16 months, succumbing to complications related to a chronic heart condition on May 15, 2007, just two-plus years after speaking at Cornell, at an event named after her father.

Those of us who were there that day remain grateful for that experience, and an invaluable perspective on life and leadership