[Peace-discuss] who is the MLK Celebration Committee / was Re: now accepting applications for the MLK Scholarship

[Karen Medina]

> Who/what is the Martin Luther King Jr Celebration Committee.

Unofficial answer:
The group has been around for many years. Claude Shelby has been very
important to it.
I remember going to the MLK events as a child:
* the scholarship event has always been at Krannert and they usually
invite a really good speaker or two. Many hundreds of people used to
attend, but recently the crowd has gotten smaller.
* there has always been the unity breakfast as well, usually held at a
different church every year
* there used to be a choral thing as well, but that has been joined
with the scholarship event
* more recently, events for children and celebrating arts have been
added to the week's events (Krannert)
* usually there is a film festival spread out over the week at
different locations. 3 or 4 movies shown. Every one of the films I
have been to was fantastic -- though not well attended.
Last year's celebration activities included a whole list of things:
http://engagement.illinois.edu/mlk/community.html

More official answer, though information might be dated
Looking up the group in the Champaign Public Library database on
community groups, the official title they list for the group is:
Martin Luther King, Jr. Advocacy for Justice Committee (sometimes it
is referred to as the Dr. Martin... so sometimes in alphabetical
lists, you have to look in both D and M). This is the scholarship
committee. They work closely with the University of Illinois, Parkland
College, and the school in Mississippi.
Description: 	
Interracial group of clergy and laypeople dedicated to Martin Luther
King Jr.'s dream of a society of justice thru non violence. Awards 4
year scholarships to high school graduates who are low income and
academically qualified.
Phone: 	
217-356-8176
217-356-7729 fax
Contact: 	
Rev. Claude Shelby, President (This was correct 12/2008)
Mailing Add: 	
Salem Baptist Church, 500 E. Park St., Champaign, IL 61820
Subjects: 	
Race relations
Scholarships
Services Avail: 	
Meetings: 3rd Friday of each month.
URL: 	
http://www.salembaptistchurchcu.org/ (though I did not see any
information about it at this website, so the entry may be outdated)
Print resources on this organization available at the Champaign County
Historical Archives, Urbana Free Library, (217) 367-4025. Visit Local
History Online to search for resources. http://ccha.tufl.org/