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 Dr. Levy M. Daughter...heads foundation
Dr. Virgil Woods, Rev. Jennings,
Dr. Walter Fauntroy, Dr. C.T. Vivian
Dr. Milton A. Reid delivers closing prayer |
From Civil Rights To Civil Duties Ceremony
By Dr. Milton A Reid,
Adjunct Writer and Columnist
New Journal and Guide
A conference on “Civil Rights and Civil Duties” sponsored by the King Makers Foundation, Howard University, and the Howard School of Divinity was held April 25-26 at the university with participants from San Francisco, New York, Virginia, Atlanta, Ohio, and Washington, DC.
It was a moving experience and 12 legendary civil rights leaders of the nation, some who were beaten, jailed and harassed during the fifties, sixties and seventies passed the torch from civil rights to civil duties to the next generation.
Youth from Washington, Maryland, Richmond, Virginia and Norfolk, Virginia were in attendance.
Among the civil rights leaders were Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, former Chief of Staff to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., now retired, living in Virginia; Dr. Milton A. Reid, a member of the staff and board and a member of SCLC for 42 years; Dr. Curtis Harris, former Mayor of Hopewell, Virginia, and board member of SCLC for more than forty years; Dr. C.T. Vivian, of Atlanta Georgia, still strong and active civil rights who was beaten in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Also, Dr. Amos Brown, senior pastor and civil rights icon, of the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco; Dr. Lonnie Macleod, of New York; Dr. Virgil Wood, of Houston, Texas; the Honorable Walter E. Fauntroy, director of the Washington Bureau of SCLC, and former congressman for twenty years.
Also, Mrs. Dorothy Cotton, educational consultant with SCLC and talented singer; Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, (represented by his daughter, Mrs. Ruby S. Bester of Ohio); and Mrs. Dorothy I. Height, of Washington, DC.
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Posted May 7, 2008
Several other civil right icons were invited but could not make it to the conference, i.e., Harry Belafonte, and Dr. Joseph E. Lowery who participated in the planning of the conference. Ms. Brenda Andrews, Ms. Diane Nash, invitees to the conference to be honored, also could not make it due to other responsibilities at the time.
A high school student won a $1,000 scholarship for writing an essay on the meaning of civil duties, and another won a laptop computer as a door prize.
The Conference ended up on the Mall of Presidents, in Washington, at the site of the planned memorial for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King, a Nobel Peace Laureate and Black Baptist Pastor, is the only non-president memorialized at the site.
The closing prayer of the conference was offered by Dr. Milton A. Reid, the founder of the Martin Luther King Jr., Family Life Institute. In attendance were the Institute’s Senior Chairman of the Board, Dr. Levy M. Daughtery, president of the Kingmakers Magazine; his wife, Clara; Mrs. Marian T. Reid; Dr. Latonya W. Ricks, executive director of the MLK Family Life Institute; Mr. Leonard Wyche, registered agent with the Martin Luther King Jr., Family Life Institute; and Miss Michaela Frances of the youth division of the Institute; all members of First Calvary Baptist Church of Norfolk. The next conference is scheduled for Houston Texas, in October at Southern University.
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