Critically acclaimed speaker and actor Jim Lucas will be the keynote speaker for the University of Mary Washington’s celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The lecture, a Cultural Awareness Series event, will be held Monday, January 21 in George Washington Hall, Dodd Auditorium at
4 p.m. The event is open to the public without charge.
Lucas has received praise across the nation for his stirring and dramatic recitations and interpretive readings depicting the life and times of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A student of the teachings of the Civil Rights leader, Lucas is an advocate of King’s philosophy of nonviolent civil action to effect social change. Like the man he portrays, Lucas participated in local protests and demonstrations to achieve school integration in his hometown of Lake Providence, La. He has traveled nationwide in a dramatic one-man show delivering various renditions of memorable King speeches.
Lucas currently is co-starring in “The Meeting,” a powerful play about the lives, philosophies and times of King and Malcolm X. His resemblance to and interpretation of King have been called “remarkable,” “awe-inspiring,” “uncanny” and “soulful.”
For more information, call the James Farmer Multicultural Center at (540) 654-1044.