The Margaret Walker Center is pleased to announce that Reena Evers-Everette will be the keynote speaker for the 44th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Birthday Convocation at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 18, in the Rose Embly McCoy Auditorium on the JSU campus. The MLK Convocation is free and open to the public.

Evers-Everette is the daughter of civil rights activists Medgar and Myrlie Evers. Born in Mound Bayou, Miss., she moved with the family to Jackson so her father could expand his fight for human justice and equality. Evers-Everette was 8-years old and a witness to her father’s brutal assassination when he was gunned down in front of the family home.

Today, Evers-Everette serves as Executive Director for the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute, a national organization founded by Myrlie Evers to fulfill the vision of civil rights leader Medgar Evers through education and civic engagement programs. In collaboration with several organizations, the Evers Institute will recognize the 50th anniversary of Medgar Evers’ assassination with events in Washington, D. C., and Jackson, Miss., June 5-12, 2013. For more information, visit http://www.eversinstitute.org.

The MLK Convocation will be immediately followed by the 18th Annual For My People Awards luncheon at 11:45 a.m. in the JSU Student Center Ballroom.

The Margaret Walker Center will honor Evers-Everette and the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretative Center for their contributions to the public preservation of African-American history and culture with this annual award named after Margaret Walker’s classic poem, For My People. Past recipients include James Meredith, Unita Blackwell, Robert Clark, Lerone Bennett, Andrew Young, Jesse Mosley, and others.

Located in the heart of the Mississippi Delta on U.S 82 between Greenwood and Greenville, not far from the famous Crossroads at Clarksdale, the B.B. King Museum opened in 2008 to honor the life and music of one of the most accomplished musicians of our time.

Tickets for this year’s For My People Awards luncheon can be purchased through the Margaret Walker Center for $10 starting on Jan. 2. For more information, visit the Center’s website at http://www.jsums.edu/margaretwalker or contact the Center’s staff at 601-979-2055 or mwa@jsums.edu.