Emanuel Cleaver

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., will be the featured speaker January 23 as KU celebrates the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. with "Walking the Dream," a luminaria procession along Jayhawk Boulevard.

The Multicultural Resource Center and the Office of Multicultural Affairs are presenting the walk, which is free and open to the public. It will start at 7 p.m. in front of Strong Hall, and participants will walk along Jayhawk Boulevard, reflecting on King's legacy.

The evening will end in Woodruff Auditorium at Kansas Union with a performance by the Inspirational Gospel Voices and a speech by Cleaver, who lives in Kansas City and represents Missouri's 5th District.

Cleaver was elected the first black mayor of Kansas City, Mo., in 1991 and re-elected in 1995. Among his legacies are improved job creation and infrastructure and the creation of the 18th & Vine District, revitalizing the neighborhood that was a center of the city's jazz and baseball history. He was twice president of the National Conference of Black Mayors.

Cleaver, who holds a master's from St. Paul's School of Theology in Kansas City, has been senior pastor of St. James United Methodist Church for 25 years.

Santos Nunez, program director of the Multicultural Resource Center said, "This is a great opportunity for the KU community to come together and reflect on the accomplishments of Dr. King as well as to remind ourselves that there is still work to be done to combat hate and injustice."

"The Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Multicultural Resource Center are proud of honoring and presenting to the University of Kansas one of the most prominent members of the civil rights movement," said Robert N. Page Jr., director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, "The Martin Luther King Jr. program will showcase the dreams, aspirations and goals of this great civil rights leader."