Sunday, January 17, 2021
The Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, a nationally recognized children's rights and racial equity champion who in December succeeded Marian Wright Edelman as president of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), will deliver the keynote address for Duke University's annual Martin Luther King Jr. online commemoration ceremony. Watch the ceremony with the video player below.
Rev. Dr. Wilson, an activist and philanthropist who served as chief executive of the church-linked Deaconess Foundation in St. Louis from 2011 until his new appointment, will speak on "Voices of the Movement," the commemoration theme. The program, usually attended by hundreds in Duke Chapel, is being presented online this year.
The annual program will link "voices of wisdom from the past and hope for the present that guide our pursuit of a more just world," according to a committee statement. Other highlights of the virtual program include performances by John Brown's Jazz Ambassadors, The Collage Dance Company and Duke student dancer Akylah Cox, as well as greetings from Duke University President Vincent Price, Chancellor for Health Affairs Dr. A. Eugene Washington, Durham Mayor Steve Schewel, Duke Black Student Association Co-President Tobi Akinyelu, and Chapel Dean Luke A. Powery.