The Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, long considered the dean of Americas civil rights movement, is the keynote speaker at West Virginia Universitys annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Thursday (Jan. 17).

The service will be 7 p.m. at Morgantowns St. Paul AME Church on Beechurst Avenue and is organized by WVU s Center for Black Culture and the MLK Programs Committee, which is made up of University staff, students and community members.

The commemoration is the traditional launch of WVU s recognition of King, who was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968.

On Monday, Jan. 21the national holiday that bears Kings name WVU will host its annual Unity Breakfast at 8 a.m. in the Mountainlair ballrooms. The keynote speaker is Elizabeth Dooley, chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction/Literacy Studies at WVU s College of Human Resources and Education. Dooley holds degrees from Alderson-Broaddus College and WVU .

The Universitys MLK Achievement Award and MLK Scholarship will also be presented that morning, and WVU President Mike Garrison will bring greetings, too.

A life of outreach and advocacy

Lowery made his name early in the movement in his home state of Alabama, where he was born in 1921 in Huntsville. After studying at Knoxville College, Payne College and Theological Seminary and the Chicago Ecumenical Institute, he returned home in the early 1950s to head the Alabama Civic Affairs Association in Mobile.

The organization was dedicated to the desegregation of buses and public places throughout the South, and by 1957, he and King would link up to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

In 1965, Lowery chaired the delegation that presented demands to then-Gov. George Wallace after the famed Selma-to-Montgomery march.

He went on to help found the Black Leadership Forum in the early 1970s, a consortium of black advocacy groups that was among the first to actively protest apartheid in South Africa.

In 1979, he was a calming voice to Atlantas black community during the child murder crisis. He also negotiated with major corporations to help advance the business prospects of minority-owned companies.

Lowery has led peace delegations to the Middle East and Central America, and here at home, his efforts helped add provisions to the Voting Rights Actand the first black officers to the Birmingham, Ala., police department.

Today, his mission includes getting young black people to go to the polls on Election Day, and he even recorded a song with rap artist NATE the Great to reinforce the message.

In recognition of his efforts, Lowery received the NAACP Lifetime Achievement Award, Martin Luther King Peace Award and the National Urban Leagues Whitney M. Young Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award.

Numerous colleges and universities have bestowed him with honorary degrees, including Dillard University, Morehouse College, Alabama State University and the University of Alabama, and Ebony Magazine has twice named him to its15 Greatest Black Preacherslist.

While all events are free and open to the public, RSVPs are being accepted for the Unity Breakfast by e-mailing penny.kennedy@mail.wvu.edu or calling 304-293-7029.