MLK Fellow Announced
“Hotel Rwanda” hero to be honored Tuesday at BU
Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who sheltered and saved more than 1,000 people during the 1994 Rwandan genocide and whose story is told in the movie Hotel Rwanda, will be honored tonight at BU.
Rusesabagina will give the Martin Luther King, Jr., Leadership Lecture at the Tsai Performance Center and will receive the title Martin Luther King, Jr., Fellow at an event sponsored by the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center.
The Rwandan genocide killed nearly one million people. Since providing refuge for those at risk, Rusesabagina has received many honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Award, and the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award.
In addition, distinguished African-American playwright, writer, and poet Sonia Sanchez will read a selection of her poetry and will be named the Coretta Scott King Fellow. Sanchez has been awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Award, the Community Service Award from the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, the Lucretia Mott Award, and the Peace and Freedom Award from the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
The event will also feature a roundtable discussion of experts exploring the lasting influence of Martin Luther King, Jr. (GRS’55, Hon.’59) on our society. Moderated by Gene Jarrett, a College of Arts & Sciences associate professor of English, the panel will include King’s sister Christine King Farris, director of the Learning Resources Center at Spelman College, and his niece Angela Farris Watkins, a Spelman College associate professor of psychology; Clayborne Carson, a Stanford University professor of history; Walter Fluker, director ad interim of the Martin Luther King Jr. Collection at Morehouse College and executive director of the Leadership Center and the Coca-Cola Professor of Leadership Studies at Morehouse; Isabel Wilkerson, a College of Communication visiting professor of journalism; John Stone, a CAS professor of sociology; Charles Griswold, a CAS professor of philosophy; and Hardin Coleman, dean of the BU School of Education.
The event is from 6 to 8:30 p.m. tomorrow night, November 10, 2009, at the Tsai Performance Center, 685 Commonwealth Ave. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center Web site.
Brendan Gauthier can be reached at btgauth@gmail.com.
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