Brazile, Norris Highlight Duke's MLK Events

Veteran political strategist and commentator Donna Brazile and journalist Michele Norris of National Public Radio will headline a week of free campus activities for Duke University's 2012 Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration.

Brazile's 3 p.m. speech on Sunday, Jan. 15, in Duke Chapel, is part of a program that includes music and dancing that celebrates King's life. It is free and open to the public. Parking is available in the Bryan Center Parking Garage.

Those unable to attend can watch a live stream of the event on the university's Ustream channel, ustream.tv/dukeuniversity. Viewers can post comments on Twitter using the hashtag #dukelive. An archive of the recording will also be posted online.

Brazile managed Al Gore's 2000 run for the White House, becoming the first African-American woman to manage a presidential campaign. She now serves as vice chair of voter registration for the Democratic National Committee.

"Donna Brazile really has been committed to voter registration and engaging grassroots aspects of communities," said Ben Reese, co-chair of Duke's MLK Committee.

Reese said Brazile's message should resonate well with Duke students and others. "Our theme this year, Act to Honor, is about how we can think of Dr. King's legacy in terms of our responsibility to act," he said.

At 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, Norris, co-host of NPR's "All Things Considered," will speak in Reynolds Theater. Her new book, "The Grace of Silence: A Memoir," explores race in the wake of the Obama presidential election. The event will also be streamed live on Ustream.

Other campus events, which are all free and open to the public, include:

-- 5:30 p.m. Jan. 13, Bay 4, Smith Warehouse: A reception and screening of the film "Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin." A Q&A with the film's director, Sam Pollard, will follow;

-- 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 14, Center for Documentary Studies: Director Sam Pollard will teach a public master class on filmmaking;

-- 11 a.m. Jan. 15, Duke Chapel: J. Kameron Carter, associate professor in theology and black church studies, will deliver a sermon referencing the life of King during the chapel's Sunday worship service;

-- 9:30 a.m. Jan. 16, Freeman Center: Members from Duke, North Carolina Central University and the Durham Rotary Club are coordinating the Million Meals Project, which is expected to package 80,000 meals to support Stop Hunger Now;

-- 3:30 p.m. Jan. 16, Bryan Center and Chapel Quad: Student groups and other volunteers will participate in a sit-in on the quad, following an example from a 1968 Duke student sit-in. It will feature recordings of speeches by Dr. King. Images of campus activism at Duke will be on display;

-- Noon, Jan. 17, North Pavilion Lecture Hall, Duke Hospital: English and African American studies professor Maurice Wallace will deliver the keynote address, "Dreaming Martin: Mountaintops, Memory and the Monumental Martin Luther King, Jr." for the Duke Clinical Research Institute; and

-- Noon, Jan. 19, Breedlove Room, Perkins Library: "Identifying Freedom: Implications for Civic Engagement," a panel of Duke faculty from public policy, African American studies, sociology and Latin American and Caribbean studies will discuss King's legacy of civic engagement.

For more details about this year's commemoration, go to mlk.duke.edu.