Photo courtesy Oris Phillips Jr.
By Linah Mohammad/se news editor
As part of the Changing America exhibit, the SE Campus Carrier Library will host The Life and Times of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a one-man show by former TCC student Oris Phillips Jr., at 1 p.m. Feb. 11.
Phillips, a singer and an actor at Fort Worth’s Jubilee Theatre, attended SE Campus.
“Oris is very passionate and talented,” Lily Sano, a SE library specialist and an old friend said. “He even sang ‘Happy Birthday’ for our boss once.”
The show will be a historical account of Martin Luther King Jr.’s early life and the inspiration that he has on youth today.
“We will first reflect on Dr. King as an inquisitive young boy and son of a Baptist minister,” Phillips said. “Then, we will revisit the infamous shoe store incident where Dr. King’s father challenges prejudice in Alabama by refusing to purchase shoes for Martin in a department store that enforces Jim Crow laws.”
Phillips said students will see King as a husband, father, pastor, civil rights leader and martyr for the things he believed.
Included in this presentation are famous quotes and excerpts from three of Dr. King’s most famous speeches: “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” “I Have a Dream” and his last speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” delivered in Memphis, Tenn., the night before his assassination.
The show includes some documentaries and actual journalism footage. The clips will be used to show changes in the time and dates or introduce one speech or another.
“The goal of this presentation,” Phillips said, “is to focus on the importance of making a positive impact on a generation of people with whatever gifts or talents one has been given.”
