Inspire, Spring 2008

Cedarville University 3 what’s abuzz your source for what ’ s new and exciting at C edarville U niversity “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. ... If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the oppression we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.” —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” April 16, 1963 Cedarville Honors Martin Luther King’s Legacy Confined to a narrow lockup and feeling on the defensive, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. penned a now well-known response to the clergy of Birmingham, Alabama. The emotion and language conveyed in a “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” became the focus of an eight-hour continual tag-team reading on January 21, the national holiday celebrating Dr. King’s legacy. Dr. King’s letter was presented multiple times in 15-minute segments by Cedarville faculty and staff in front of a replica of the Birmingham jail cell in the Stevens Student Center. Pictures of the civil rights leader’s arrest scrolled in the background for people to reflect upon while listening to the recitation. “Our goal in expanding our celebration was to expose our University community to Dr. King in a more comprehensive way,” shared Jon Purple, dean of student life programs. “There is much to be learned from Dr. King’s personal sacrifice, standing for what he believed and knew was right, and his accomplishments in the face of great opposition.” Continuing this educational emphasis, several students participated in a civil rights bus tour that began at The King Center in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. King’s birthplace. They also visited the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, where four young girls died in 1963 in a Ku Klux Klan bombing that helped launch the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Students Mandie Sugg ’10 and Jennifer Mukes ’10 are pictured above while at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. The tour ended at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. These opportunities were provided to students with the words of the Apostle Peter in mind: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right” (Acts 10:34-35).