Feature Story

January 15, 2018 | By Ohio Wesleyan University

Bishop Lawrence Reddick III presents the keynote address at the 25th annual MLK Breakfast Celebration. Watch video from the event. (Photo by Mark Schmitter '12)

Commemorating King

OWU, Delaware Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy

Ohio Wesleyan University and the Delaware County Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee honored Dr. King’s legacy Jan. 15 during the 25th annual MLK Breakfast Celebration, “Why We Can’t Wait: I Still Have a Dream.” 

At the event, 1974 OWU alumnus Bishop Lawrence Reddick III presented the keynote address, “Truth, Deception, and the Challenge to Bridge an Ever-Widening Gap.”

Reddick told the crowd that “desegregation and integration without truth and reconciliation is what has led us to where we are today.” 

“Martin King represented truth because he spoke of courage to us,” Reddick said. “Martin King also represented truth because he inspired us to hear in his messages what scholarship could do.” 

Reddick is the 51st bishop elected in the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church and presiding bishop of the Eighth Episcopal District in Dallas, Texas. 

Also during the breakfast, Natalie Darst of Hayes High School was recognized as the 2017 MLK Scholarship winner, and the crowd enjoyed musical performances by Joshua Brodbeck and Winston White. 

The event included the presentation of Delaware City and County resolutions recognizing the significance and importance of the MLK Day, a federal holiday since 1986. 

In their resolution, Delaware City officials declared the holiday as “a day to reaffirm the American ideals of freedom, justice and opportunity for all; as a day for love, not hate; for understanding, not anger; for peace, not war.”

Photos from the Event

25th Annual MLK Breakfast Celebration