Muhlenberg College Participates in “Campaign for Change”
Rev. James Lawson to Lead Community Development Workshop on CampusWednesday, October 30, 2013 01:33 PM
Muhlenberg College will partner with The Resurrected Community Development Corporation (RCDC), Inc. on their “Campaign for Change,” by hosting community-wide training sessions on the history of the civil rights and non-violence movements on Saturday, November 9, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and Sunday, November 10, from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. in the Seegers Union Event Space.
The workshops will be facilitated by Rev. James Lawson, chief strategist for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a pioneer for the civil rights movement. Lawson is internationally known as a "Freedom Rider" who introduced the principles of Gandhian nonviolence to many future leaders of the 1960's phase of the civil rights movement. In 1968, Lawson chaired the strike committee for sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn. At Lawson's request, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to the striking workers on the day before his assassination. In 1974, Lawson moved to Los Angeles to lead Holman United Methodist Church where he served as pastor for 25 years before retiring in 1999. Throughout his career and into retirement, he has remained active in various human rights advocacy campaigns, including immigrant rights and opposition to war and militarism. Recently, he was a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University.
The RCDC is a non-profit community development organization specifically dedicated to the deliverance of disadvantaged urban neighborhoods from decades of discrimination, deprivation and disrepair. The organization is located within the Old Allentown Neighborhood and the Allentown Promise Neighborhood, just outside the City of Allentown's Neighborhood Improvement Zone.
On Thursday, October 31 at 5:00 p.m., the RCDC will hold a press conference to announce further details on the 2014 “Campaign for Change” at the Martin Luther & Coretta Scott King Memorial located on Union Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive in Allentown PA at the Harry A Roberts Plaza. For more information, please contact the RCDC at www.rcdclv.org.
