Dr. Kalvin DaRonne Harvell: “Reintroducing Dr. King” on Zoom Jan. 20
Register today for the MLK virtual keynote address on TUESDAY, Jan. 20
HFC sociology instructor Dr. Kalvin DaRonne Harvell will give a virtual keynote address titled, “Reintroducing Dr. King: Attempted Erasure and the Work of Recovery” on Tuesday, January 20, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. via Zoom.
“The title reflects a continued effort to tell the true story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in ways that center his life as instructive rather than an abstract myth with no practical utility concerning the tasks of the day,” said Harvell. “People are overly familiar with the Hollywood depiction of Dr. King. Hollywood does not adequately capture the historic or contemporary importance of Dr. King. My goal is to reintroduce Dr. King in a way that positions his life as part of the Black liberation tradition that combines theology, social criticism, and pragmatic philosophies rooted in self-determination.”
Scholar is no stranger to Dr. King
Harvell has taught at HFC since 1999 and is the faculty advisor of the Dr. Henry J. Bowers Focus Group. Born and raised in Flint, he graduated from Flint Southwestern Academy. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology from Grand Valley State University and Ohio University in Athens, OH. Harvell later earned his education specialist degree in administration from Oakland University, and his doctorate in global leadership studies with a higher education cognate from the Indiana Institute of Technology in Ft. Wayne, IN.
A renowned speaker and scholar, Harvell is a member of the KMT ASEN Inc., an Afrikan-centered brotherhood, and the prestigious Diversity Scholars Network (DSN) at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The DSN is a scholarly community committed to advancing understanding of historical and contemporary social issues regarding race, identity, culture, representation, power, oppression, and inequality – as they occur and impact individuals, groups, communities, and institutions. The DSN consists of nearly 1,000 scholars representing more than 200 educational institutions across the globe.
In 2019, Harvell gave a Faculty Lectureship Award presentation called “An Uncomfortable Alliance: Racial Microaggressions and the College Campus”. In 2020, he was the keynote speaker at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at OU.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebrated since 1986
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the official national holiday, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which was inaugurated in 1986 after President Ronald Reagan signed it into law in 1983, following years of advocacy by civil rights activists. It is observed on the third Monday in January every year.
King was a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement, which was integral to:
- The Civil Rights Act of 1964
- The Voting Rights Act of 1965
- The Fair Housing Act of 1968
King led the 1963 March on Washington, D.C., where he gave his historic “I Have a Dream” speech. He won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated by James Earl Ray. In 1977, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2003, he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. In 2011, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. was dedicated.
“It's important that we still need to celebrate Dr. King, so we can be attentive to the fact there's still unfinished business in terms of his dream,” said Harvell. “A lot of people assume that the journey was complete on April 4, 1968, because King was assassinated. But he himself said, ‘I may not get there with you, but we as a people will get to the promised land.’”
Harvell’s Zoom presentation is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by HFC Student Activities and the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
For questions or more information about this presentation, contact Kayla Collins at krcollins@hfcc.edu or Jerrard Wheeler at jerrardw@umich.edu.