The University of Evansville and the University of Southern Indiana have celebrated the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
USI hosted a luncheon called “The Dream Still Matters.”
The keynote speaker was author, historian, and educator James Anderson, who saw King speak in his Alabama hometown just two weeks before the civil rights leader was killed in 1968.
Anderson told the crowd that King spoke about his Poor Peoples Campaign, an effort to gain economic support for low-income families. Anderson said income equality remains a major issue, especially since the 2009 recession.
Anderson also pointed to voter ID laws as a new effort to keep African-Americans and other minorities away from the polls.
Meantime, UE conducted its annual re-enactment of the March on Washington and offered re-enactments of Rosa Park’s famous bus ride. This year marks 60 years since Parks refused to move to the back of a Montgomery, Alabama bus.