2009
The 2009 Commemoration included three renowned Utah civil rights activists as keynotes: France Davis, David Dominguez, and Rocky Anderson. Clusters of presenters and performers featured many aspects of civil rights in Utah, such as the role of the arts, the role of the media, and the role of the LDS Church, especially blacks receiving the priesthood after nearly150 years of exclusion.
Among the many speakers at UVU were KRCL founder Stephen Holbrook, Diversity Times publisher Albert Jones, Utah NAACP President Jeanetta Williams, political cartoonist Pat Bagley, actor and gay rights/anti-war activist Jeff Key, Utah historian Ronald Coleman, and minority media expert Kenneth Campbell. UVU students and faculty also presented, including a panel on discrimination of the deaf. Two recent films shown and discussed included The Wisdom of Our Years and Nobody Knows . The first is an oral history of lives of Utah African Americans, and the second is about the exclusion of African men from the LDS priesthood and their transformative 1978 inclusion.
UVU’s tradition of highlighting the arts in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration continued with student and faculty performances, exhibits, and an arts performance reception, all in our beautiful new library. Finding Voice , a musical written by Cache Valley survivors of domestic violence, was directed by Nancy Cannon and performed by UVU students. This moving ethno-drama related women’s true experiences of despair and healing. Finally, Ogden’s jazz octogenarian Joe McQueen brought his saxophone and played for us, and UVU’s own poet/sonosopher Alex Caldiero performed black poetry in the Commemoration’s grand finale.
2008
Marian Jackson
She was awarded last year's Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration Award of Excellence. Marian is an educator whose work with migrant school children and farm workers brought them hope and assistance, and in doing so she exemplified the principles of Martin Luther King, Jr.
2007
Vincent Harding
Author of Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero; keynote
UVSC Black Student Union
Received the fourth annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for the Advancement of Justice and Human DignityMarlene Neptune
Former president of the UVSC Black Student Union, received the first Martin Luther King, Jr. Student/Alumni Award
2006
Morris Dees
Co-founder and Chief Trial Lawyer, Southern Poverty Law Cente; keynote
Ingrid Guzman
Director of Centro Hispano, received the third annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for the Advancement of Justice and Human Dignity
2005
John Echohawk
Co-founder and Executive Director, Native American Rights Fund; keynoteMr. Echohawk and NARF were the recipients of the second annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for the Advancement of Justice and Human Dignity
Joseph Vogel
of UVSC also received a Special Commendation for the Advancement of Free Speech
2004
Yolanda King
Actress, Author, and Activist (Daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King); keynoteFirst annual recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for the Advancement of Justice and Human Dignity