CSC plans to celebrate MLK Day

The morning sessions will all take place in the Student Center Ballroom.

At 8 a.m., CSC alumnus Jovan Mays of Aurora, Colorado, will lead a discussion titled, “I Have a Dream?” that will cover the current state of civil rights in the U.S., and the meaning of King’s legacy.

An African-American independent film will be shown at 9 a.m. This session, led by Janice Haynes, an assistant professor of communication, will look at two eras of African-American film, the silent era with Oscar Micheaux and the second wave in the 1960s and 1970s. 

At 10 a.m., David Christensen, a visiting assistant professor of history, will lead a session about the Post-War Segregation history of race relations in Chadron and the surrounding region in the decades following World War II.

An 11 a.m. session about Civil Rights and Photojournalism, led by Mike Kennedy, an instructor of journalism, will explore the impact of media on the 1950s Civil Rights movement and the power of images to accelerate change.

Shaunda French, associate professor of communication, will discuss, at noon, the film “Prom Night in Mississippi” and how segregation continues.

Shuttles at the Lindeken Clock Tower will pick up all students, staff and faculty who would like to participate in the march south to campus from the intersection of Main and Third Streets between 12:50-1:10 p.m.

The route will proceed south to Sixth Street, turning east and continuing to Shelton Street, where Chadron Middle School students will join. The march will continue south on Shelton Street to the United Methodist Church, where the Chadron Primary and Intermediate School children will join. The march will then go south on Shelton Street crossing Tenth Street, pass through the Student Center and arrive at the Chicoine Center.

At 2 p.m., a community celebration is planned at the Chicoine Center featuring Mays, Dr. Hillary Potter, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and musical groups from the Chadron Middle and High Schools, according to Nesheim. The event will be streamed live on chadronstate.tv.

In the Student Center Ballroom at 3:30 p.m. Potter will lead a discussion titled, “Criminality and the Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender.”

The day will conclude with an Open Mic session from 7 to 10 p.m., also in the Ballroom, that will celebrate African-American history and American history, according to Nesheim.

“Students and the public will have an opportunity to showcase their talents through song or dance or poetry. Individuals will share their personal experience on the history of America, something you cannot get in history books. It should be a very educational and entertaining show,” Nesheim said.