Martin Luther King III to speak at Missouri Western Sept. 12

Human rights advocate and community activist Martin Luther King III will be the featured speaker at the 24^th annual R. Dan Boulware Convocation on Critical Issues at Missouri Western State University this fall. The Convocation begins at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12 in the M.O. Looney Complex arena and is free and open to the public. King’s topic is “Embracing the Ideals of Freedom, Justice and Equality.”

“Mr. King has a very important message for our students, employees and community members,” said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president. “It is hard to believe that in 2018, his father will have been gone for 50 years, yet his message is still as relevant today as it was then.”

As the oldest son of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King III has seized the torch lit by his parents and is continuing their quest for equality and justice for all people. He has been sharing this message with audiences around the world for nearly 20 years.

A human rights advocate, community activist and a political leader, King also has been actively involved in significant policy initiatives to maintain the fair and equitable treatment of all citizens, at home and abroad.

A graduate of his father’s alma mater, Morehouse College, with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, King was elected to political office in 1986 as an at-large representative of Fulton County, Georgia. As a member of the Board of Commissioners, he was instrumental in securing strong ethics legislation, purification of the county’s natural water resources and legislation regulating minority business participation in public contracting.

He initiated the King Summer Intern Program to provide employment opportunities for high school students; Hoops for Health, a charity basketball game intended to increase public awareness of newborn babies who suffer the effects of substance abuse; and A Call to Manhood, an annual event designed to unite young African-American males with positive adult role models.

From 1997 to 2004, King served as the fourth president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the organization that his father co-founded in 1957. A long-standing member of the Board of Directors, King has devoted much of his adulthood to the continuance of his father’s mission of nonviolent conflict resolution.

While on campus, King will have the opportunity to view a private showing of “King & Cronkite,” Missouri Western’s live, multimedia performance about his father and Walter Cronkite.

Missouri Western inaugurated the R. Dan Boulware Convocation on Critical Issues program in 1993. The program was started as part of an overall commitment to offer enriching experiences to students while bringing together the college and community. Previous Convocation speakers include: Bill Bradley, Douglas Brinkley, James Carville and Mary Matalin, Sam Donaldson, Steve Forbes, Thomas Friedman, David Gergen, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Newt Gingrich, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Jeane Kirkpatrick, Jerry Linenger, David McCullough, Joseph Nye, T. Boone Pickens, Colin Powell, Tom Ridge, Cokie Roberts, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Daniel Schorr, Patricia Schroeder, J. C. Watts and Bob Woodward.

Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu.