2017 MLK Tribute Set For Essex College's Newark Campus

From Essex County College: Essex County College will host its annual memorial tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Tuesday, January 17, from 10 to 11:30 a.m., at the main Newark campus. The theme of the free program is "Sisters in the Struggle: The Remarkable Women of the Civil Rights Movement."

The event will be held in the College's Mary Burch Theater.

Dr. Valethia Watkins, Director of the Women's Studies Graduate Certificate Program and Assistant Professor of Africana Studies in the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, will be the keynote speaker. She earned her Ph.D. in African American Studies to Temple University and her law degree from the Ohio State University College of Law.

In addition to her teaching, Dr. Watkins has published extensively in such publications as the Journal of Pan African Studies, Phylon: The Clark Atlanta University Review of Race and Culture, and the African Journal of Rhetoric. She has also lectured on African America Women's history across the United States and internationally in such countries as Ghana, Egypt and Great Britain.

The memorial program will include a presentation by Newark's Kelli Koontz Wilson. She is an author, storyteller and "spoken word artist." She has worked for the National Council of Alcohol and Drug Dependence as a project adviser for the Teen Institute of the Garden State, and teaching artist and program coordinator for Arts Education at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. In 2006 she received the Ambassador of Peace Award from the International Federation of World Peace for her community work with youth.

The memorial program is presented by the College's Africana Institute and the Student Life & Activities Office. Additional information is available at 973.877.3219 or Africana@essex.edu

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