NSU Press Release

NSU Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Observance and March to be Held Jan. 15

The observance, which officially kicks of the University’s African-American History Month celebration, will begin with a symbolic march at 6 p.m. at the Lyman Beecher Brooks Library.

At 6:30 p.m., the campus community will gather at the L. Douglas Wilder Performing Arts Center for the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. program, which will include a keynote speech and musical selections from the NSU Gospel Choir.

Genna Rae McNeil, professor of history at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, will deliver the keynote address. McNeil specializes in African-American history and twentieth century U.S. history with an emphasis in race, law and social movements. Within these areas, her current research interests include civil rights, civil liberties, African-American women and social movements, the African-American religious experience, youth movements and youth. She has served as chairperson of the department of history at Howard University and taught at Roosevelt University, Hunter College and Howard University School of Law.

Her publications include scholarly articles and four books: Historical Judgments Reconsidered, co-edited with Michael R. Winston; Groundwork: Charles Hamilton Houston and the Struggle for Civil Rights, which was awarded the distinguished Silver Gavel Award of the American Bar Association; and African Americans and Jews in the Twentieth Century, co-edited with V.P. Franklin and others. As a historian of record, McNeil has also contributed to racial justice litigation and public exhibition on race and law in a host of briefs.

McNeil earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago in 1970 and 1975 respectively.