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Across the country, this year's commemorations of Martin Luther King Day will point to the inauguration of Barack Obama as president the next day.
"King gave his life in the service of a vision, and it was a vision of a united America. ... The country's election of Barack Obama is at some level bringing to fruition that hope," said local playwright Amanda Kemp, who's play about slavery will be performed as part of a day filled with events across the county honoring King.
Several of them will link King's life to the swearing-in of the country's first black president.
Early on Jan. 19, Crispus Attucks Community Center will hold its annual Martin Luther King Breakfast from 7 to 9 a.m. at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, 750 E. King St.
The speaker will be chef Jeff Henderson, whose memoir, "Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, from Cocaine to Foie Gras," tells how he left a life of crime to become an award-winning chef. Tickets are $60. For more information, call 394-6604, ext. 120.
Afterward, volunteers can help with projects designed to celebrate King's legacy as part of the United Way of Lancaster County's Day of Action. This year, projects at 17 local agencies include mural painting at Mom's House and sorting and delivering personal care kits at Housing Development Corporation. Southeast Area Positive Image Action Group is a co-sponsor of the event.
A luncheon for the volunteers, sponsored by the Inner City Group and Lancaster Weed and Seed, will be held at 1 p.m. at Bright Side Opportunities Center. To volunteer, call 824-8127.
The YWCA of Lancaster, 110 N. Lime St, Lancaster, will hold its 4th Annual Martin Luther King Day Celebration for pre-schoolers, from 10:30 to 11:30 am, and school-age children, from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. Jan. 19. Events include face painting, birthday activities and a presentation on King. Groups are welcome. To register, contact Monica at 393-1735, ext. 270, by Thursday, Jan. 15.
Kemp's play, "Show Me the Franklins! Remembering the Ancestors, Slavery and Benjamin Franklin," will be performed Jan. 19 at James Street Mennonite Church, 323 W. James St., at 10 a.m. The 45-minute play will be followed by some guided discussion and activities.
The play will be performed again on Monday, Jan. 26, at 12:30 p.m. at Franklin & Marshall College's Other Room Theatre, 715 N. Pine St. and at 7 p.m. at Bright Side Opportunities Center, 515 Hershey Ave.
Several community events are planned for Sunday, Jan. 18, including a 3 p.m. wreath-laying at the King Memorial in the 400 block of South Duke Street.
And, Trinity Lutheran Church, 31 S. Duke St., will host an Martin Luther King Day service Jan. 18 on the theme, "Fulfilling the Dream: 1968-2008 ... A Change has Come." King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn. The speaker will be the Rev. Martin D. Odom of Bethel Village AME Church in Harrisburg. The event is sponsored by the Lancaster NAACP.
The Warwick Ministerium will hold a King Day service at 3 p.m. Jan. 18 at Lititz Moravian Church, 8 Church Square, Lititz. Mark Breland, co-pastor of the church, will preach.
Elizabethtown College is hosting several MLK-related events, including:
• A showing of "The Ernest Green Story" at 8 p.m., Jan. 18 in the Gibble Auditorium of Esbenshade Hall. The film focuses on the 1957 integration of Little Rock Central High School.
• A discussion Jan. 19 from 2 to 4 p.m. on "Obama: A Legacy of Hope, or a Dream Still Deferred?" in Brossman Commons. Then, a candlelight march beginning at 7:15 p.m. from Brossman Commons, will proceed around the campus, ending at Leffler Chapel and Performance Center.
• A faculty forum, "From Fatalism to Freedom: The Prophetic Theology of Martin Luther King Jr." at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 21. The forum, presented by Dr. Michael Long, will be held in the James B. Hoover Center for Business, Room 110.
At Millersville University, the Old Main Bell will toll 39 times at 11:45 a.m on Jan. 19, once for each year of King's life. And, on Tuesday, Jan. 27, author Dr. Michael Eric Dyson will give a presentation at 7:30 p.m. in Millersville's Lyte Auditorium. The event is sponsored by the student chapter of the NAACP, Black Culture Celebration and the Commission on Cultural Diversity.
Dyson, a popular author and leading scholar on black American wrote the book, "April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Death and How It Changed America."
Staff writer Chad Umble can be reached at cumble@LNPnews.com or 481-6031.
