An exhibit that opens today at the Multicultural Center will showcase Martin Luther King Jr. and his influence on Northwestern students, faculty and staff.
Mary Desler, assistant vice president for student affairs, said she hopes upwards of 100 people will contribute to the “Making It Personal: The Life and Work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” between now and its closing Feb. 5.
Desler sent an e-mail Tuesday night inviting members of the NU community to submit stories about how the life and work of King affected them personally. Contributors may identify themselves however they choose.
Many of the contributors so far have recalled King’s assassination in 1968. One man wrote that he remembered going with his parents to an Evanston church service marking the one-year anniversary of King’s death.
The experience inspired him to read the writings of authors who promote non-violence, he wrote.
“His writings and those of Gandhi provided a framework for my own declaration as a conscientious objector several years later when I registered for the draft,” he wrote.
King provided hope and inspiration for other ethnic groups who faced discrimination, one 21-year-old Latina student wrote. She said her grandparents and great-grandparents faced racism during the 1940s and 1950s in South Texas because they were Latino.
“Because of King and the people he inspired from my gender and racial group,” she wrote, “I – a middle-class Chicana- can now drink water from the ‘White Fountain’ at Northwestern and pursue my dream of being a teacher at a university setting.”
Desler said she was pleased with the diversity of the contributors.
“It’s a very diverse group,” she said. “And that’s what Dr. King was all about.”
Audrey Daniel, coordinator of student organizations, said she contributed to the exhibit as a way of expressing gratitude.
“I wanted to respond,” said Daniel. “Because of Martin Luther King Jr.’s effect, it’s allowed me to have opportunities that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.”
Desler said she was inspired to create the exhibit during a meeting of the Multicultural Center Advisory Board.
“We had a conversation (there), and one member said, ‘I don’t know much about Martin Luther King,'” she said. “That struck me.”
Desler said she wanted to find a way for people to share with others what King means to them.
“Going to that event in Pick-Staiger is great,” she said. “But if you don’t reflect on what it meant to you, it’s not as meaningful.”
