(MINNEAPOLIS) — Augsburg College during January and February is hosting a wide range of campus events that are open to the public and designed to create meaningful dialogue among students, faculty, staff and the greater community on issues shaping our world.

Free, public events include:

• 1 p.m., Jan. 16: Nekima Levy-Pounds on “Renewing King’s Call for Social Justice, Equity, and Inclusion, In An Age of Demagoguery”
• 7 p.m., Jan. 23: Hope Jahren, author of “Lab Girl,” on “Twenty Things that Everyone Should Know About Global Change”
• 11 a.m., Jan. 24: Hope Jahren, author of “Lab Girl,” on “Be as a Tree Planted by the Waters: The Magic of Roots, Leaves, and Everything in Between”
• 10 a.m., Feb. 10: Carolyn Finney, author of “Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors”
• 8 a.m., Feb. 21: Chris Farrell of Minnesota Public Radio, in partnership with Augsburg College, hosts “Global Food in a Farm-to-Table World.” Free tickets are available online at 

The above events are in Augsburg College’s Hoversten Chapel in , 625 22nd Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55454

At 11:15 a.m., Feb. 18, the College welcomes Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, Inc.

• Presentation: “Learn Different”
• Location: Kennedy Center, 715 23rd Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55454
• Cost: $10 student, $20 general public
• Tickets:

About Augsburg College: Augsburg College offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and nine graduate degrees to nearly 3,600 students of diverse backgrounds at its campus in the vibrant center of the Twin Cities and its site in Rochester, Minn. Augsburg educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. An Augsburg education is defined by excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies, guided by the faith and values of the Lutheran church, and shaped by its urban and global settings.

Media Contact: Stephanie Weiss, director of news and media services, 612.330.1476

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By Harry C. Boyte

Today, on Martin Luther King Jr.’s holiday, I’ve been thinking about the March on Washington and how much its citizenship message is relevant.

In the summer of 1963, my father, Harry George Boyte, went on staff of King’s organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. At his urging I hitchhiked across the country, arriving in Washington the day before, August 27, 1963, on my way to Duke as a freshman in the fall. I lay in a sleeping bag on the floor of his hotel room. Early in the morning, I heard King’s booming voice in a nearby room, practicing “I Have a Dream.”

It was an electric moment. The message took on added depth and power as the day unfolded. “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred,” King thundered. The march’s program notes, issued in the name of March leaders but most likely written by organizer Bayard Rustin, conveyed a similar message, calling people to rise to a larger citizenship despite whatever justifiable anger many might feel. “In a neighborhood dispute there may be stunts, rough words, and even hot insults. But when a whole people speaks to its government, the dialogue and the action must be on a level reflecting the worth of that people and the responsibility of that government.”

As Charles Euchner describes in Nobody Turn Me Around, subtitled a “people’s history of the 1963 March on Washington,” the March’s citizenship message channeled a movement culture which had incubated for years in local “schools of citizenship” on college campuses and in beauty parlors, church basements and nonviolent training workshops. There, people developed the sobriety of citizens, the ability to put aside immediate impulses for the larger work, to “keep our eyes on the prize” in the words of the freedom song. I saw this process again and again as I worked in the Citizenship Education Program of SCLC over the next two years. All this added up to a vast process of citizenship education, which helped to wake up the nation after the somnolent, consumerist, privatized 1950s.

Today, we need a similar re-awakening. Private pursuits have taken the place of public ones. What one owns is too often the measure of one’s value. Our citizenship declines while we are entertained as spectators, pacified as clients, and pandered to as customers. We need again to call forth America’s democratic genius of a self-reliant, productive, future-oriented citizenry. And once again we need citizenship schools, for the new century.

Harry C. Boyte, Director of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at Augsburg College, is coordination of the American Commonwealth Partnership, which supports “democracy colleges for the 21st century” as schools for citizenship.

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Set against a backdrop of his most memorable speeches, quotations, and historical events from the Civil Rights era, this celebration pays tribute to the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. through performances from renowned Twin Cities artists and talented members of the Augsburg College community. As part of this event, students from the Southside Family School will also share an excerpt from their world premiere production, “Keeping the Dream Alive.” Hosted and curated by T. Mychael Rambo, this stirring performance will give voice to “the dream” and refresh our resolve to boldly proclaim, that indeed “Now is the time!”

An affiliate professor and recruitment coordinator for the College of Liberal Arts, Theatre Arts and Dance at the University of Minnesota, T. Mychael Rambo is best know as a member of Penumbra Theatre Company. He has performed in several Guthrie main stage productions and other Twin Cities theatre venues. The convocation will be held Monday, January 16 at 1 p.m. in the Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center.

Photo courtesy of tmychaelrambo.com.

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