‘All Deliberate Speed: The Dream Deferred?’ is the theme for SU’s 2006 Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration

‘All Deliberate Speed: The Dream Deferred?’ is the theme for SU’s 2006 Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration January 06, 2006Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

The 21st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration will be held in Syracuse University’s Carrier Dome on Sunday, Jan. 22. The evening celebration-“All Deliberate Speed: The Dream Deferred?”-will feature a keynote address by Charles J. Ogletree Jr., Harvard Law School’s Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and executive director of the school’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice; choral music by a mass choir and SU’s Black Celestial Choral Ensemble; and the presentation of the 2006 Unsung Hero Awards.

Earlier in the day, a Community Celebration, which is free and open to the public, will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Dr. King Elementary School, 416 E. Raynor Ave., Syracuse. Sponsored by the Syracuse Inner City Rotary Club and SU, the event will feature remarks by Ogletree, as well as performances by the Signature Syracuse Jazz Ensemble, the Dr. King Gospel Choir, the H.W. Smith Rainbow Kids Choir and the Danforth-In-Motion Dance Ensemble. The master of ceremonies will be Judge Langston C. McKinney.

At 3 p.m., a seminar in SU’s Maxwell Auditorium, which is free and open to the public, will feature a discussion on Ogletree’s historical memoir, “All Deliberate Speed: Reflections on the First Half-Century of Brown v. Board of Education” (Norton, 2004). The memoir discusses why Brown v. Board of Education, the single most important decision on race in the 20th century, should be carefullyanalyzed. Ogletree contends that while the decision was important and historic, it was steadily opposed and diluted by the government, political officials and individuals from all walks of life. The book will be available for purchase following the seminar.

The evening celebration in the Carrier Dome is among the largest university-sponsored events in the United States to commemorate King. Last year, more than 2,000 people attended the event. The program, which will include the presentation of the 2006 Unsung Hero Awards and entertainment, begins at 6:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Tickets for the dinner, which precedes the program at 5:30 p.m., have sold out. A waiting list has been established, call Hendricks Chapel at (315) 443-5044 for more information.

A prominent legal theorist, Ogletree has earned an international reputation by taking a hard look at complex issues of law and by working to secure the rights guaranteed by the Constitution for everyone equally under the law. He is the founding and executive director of Harvard Law School’s new Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, named in honor of the lawyer who spearheaded the litigation in Brown v. Board of Education. The institute focuses on a variety of issues relating to race and justice, and sponsors research, holds conferences and provides policy analysis.

Ogletree’s most recent book, co-authored with Professor Deborah Rhode of Stanford University, “Brown at 50: The Unfinished Legacy” (American Bar Association, 2004), commemorates the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education.

In 2003, Ogletree was selected by Savoy Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Blacks in America and by Black Enterprise Magazine, along with Thurgood Marshall, A. Leon Higginbotham Jr., and Constance Baker Motley, as one of the legal legends among America’s top black lawyers. In 2002, he received the National Bar Association’s prestigious Equal Justice Award. In 2001, he joined a list of distinguished jurists, including former Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan, and civil rights lawyers Elaine Jones