Gwendolyn Boyd, Asheville Middle School Orators, and “The Parchman Hour” to Highlight Martin Luther King Jr. Week at UNC Asheville | UNC Asheville :: North Carolina’s Public Liberal Arts University

(note: Serena Ebhardt plays “JoanTrumpauer” in “The Parchman Hour” tour.)

A presentation of “The Parchman Hour” and a keynote talk by Gwendolyn
Boyd, longtime activist for women’s equality and recruitment of African
Americans into science and engineering, will highlight Martin Luther
King Jr. Week at UNC Asheville. The week will also include opportunities
for student participation in a day of service during the Martin Luther
King Jr. national holiday, and transportation for students to other area
events celebrating King’s life and legacy.

Gwendolyn BodyAn
engineer, Boyd is executive assistant to the chief of staff at Johns
Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and is chair of that
university’s Diversity Leadership Council. She was the first African
American woman to earn a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at
Yale, and is a past recipient of the Black Engineer of the Year Public
Service Award. She is past president of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, a
service organization of more than 200,000 women.

Accompanying Boyd’s keynote talk will be presentations by the two
winners of an oratory contest open to middle school students in
Asheville and Buncombe County. The two winners, both from Asheville
Middle School, will talk about the meaning of Dr. King’s work in their
lives. This event is free and open to the public at 8 p.m. Wednesday,
Jan. 23, in UNC Asheville’s Lipinsky Auditorium.

“The Parchman Hour” brings to life the experiences of the freedom
riders through the form of a variety show. Written and produced by Mike
Wiley, the show is tribute to the courage, insight and creativity of the
young civil rights activists who created radio acts for each other
within the walls of Mississippi’s notorious Parchman Farm Penitentiary,
after being beaten and arrested for riding buses in defiance of Jim Crow
segregation rules. “The Parchman Hour” is free and open to the public,
at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22, in UNC Asheville’s Lipinsky Auditorium.

Martin Luther King Jr. Week activities at UNC Asheville are
co-sponsored by many of the university’s offices, programs and academic
departments, including the Intercultural Center, Office of Multicultural
Student Programs, Center for Diversity Education, and Cultural Events
& Special Academic Programs.

For more information, visit the Multicultural Student Programs website, or call Lamar Hylton, director of the Intercultural Center, at 828.258.7671.