(UPDATE: For more photos, visit Scott King’s gallery here in the Media Gallery.)
Attendees at the third-annual Shirley Clarke Franklin Lecture Series, held Friday morning at the Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy, were treated to a doubleheader of women’s history. Not only did students, faculty, staff and other guests enjoy an inspiring lecture from guest speaker Dr. Christine King Farris — the only surviving sibling of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — but they also were treated to a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the school’s new building that opened in January.
Dr. Farris told the audience she was proud “to have the opportunity to speak at a school dedicated to someone who I loved like a sister. This is the first and most significant thing that has been named after a woman who served Atlanta so well.”
King Farris challenged students to live the legacy that Coretta Scott King shared with her husband: working hard for peace, social justice and non-violence. She also made reference to March as National Women’s History Month, saying “We are truly writing women back into history!”
After her speech, Dr. Farris and Franklin fielded questions from students. CSKYWLA sixth-grader Radiant Harrison asked what advice Dr. Farris gives her Spelman College students.
“Take your work seriously, and whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability,” Dr. Farris said. “And two, remember those who made it possible for you to attend Spelman, and to give something back.” Another student asked Franklin what advice she would give her successor, newly elected Mayor Kasim Reed. Franklin repeated advice given to her by former mayors, including Andrew Young, who was in the audience with his wife. “They told me to listen to my head, and listen to my heart,” she said.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony that preceded the lecture served as a family reunion of sorts. Two of Dr. King’s children — Southern Christian Leadership Conference President-elect Bernice King and activist Martin Luther King III — and several other relatives joined in the ceremony. King III and his wife, Arndrea, helped their daughter, Yolanda Renee King, cut the ribbon as the crowd cheered.
APS Superintendent Dr. Beverly L. Hall and Atlanta Board of Education Chair LaChandra Butler Burks also spoke at the event, as well as CSKYWLA Principal Melody Morgan, Bernice King, CSKYWLA PTSA President Barbara Mobley, SRT-4 Executive Director Tamara Cotman, and Brian Newell of CD Moody Construction, which supervised construction of the school’s new building.
1 comment
I am glad and proud to see our school system have an event that serves as an inspiration for women’s history, especially one that shows our young women-to-be prime and living examples of women, locally, who stand for numerous essential things, and work together doing so. I am proud of the African American history that is present here in Atlanta, and especially in the leadership of Atlanta Public Schools. One thing I have learned is, you can’t be a leader without trials, and how you survive them is really what determines your character. Congratulations women, we are all watching.