Baylor University to Host Events to Commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

April 3, 2018
McLane Carillon

The McLane Carillon at Baylor University (Ryan Duncan/Baylor University)

Media Contact: Lori Fogleman, 254-710-6275
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WACO, Texas (April 3, 2018) – Baylor University will host a community reconciliation service and a carillon recital on Wednesday, April 4, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A special radio broadcast also will air on KWBU-FM to commemorate the late civil rights leader.

Baylor University, the Waco Community Race Relations Coalition, Baylor Dining Services and the Waco NAACP will hold a community reconciliation service at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Powell Chapel at Baylor’s Truett Seminary, 1100 S. Third St. Light refreshments will be served from 5:30 to 6 p.m., and the service, “The Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” will consist of prayers, hymns, special music and guest speaker, Rev. Bryan Dalco of Waco’s One Fellowship Church.

Baylor also will host a carillon recital at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday by University Carillonneur Lynnette Geary on the McLane Carillon, located in Pat Neff Hall, 1320 S. Seventh St. The national ringing is coordinated by the National Civil Rights Museum and The King Center. The recital will be followed by a toll of 39 strokes at 7:05 p.m. to represent how the news of Dr. King’s death spread across the nation and throughout the world.

At 8 p.m. Wednesday, KWBU-FM 103.3 in Waco will air “Martin Luther King’s Last Song,” a special program with Baylor journalism professor Robert Darden as he traces the final days and hours of Dr. King’s life through music from Baylor’s Black Gospel Music Restoration Project (BGMRP). Founded by Darden more than a decade ago, the BGMRP is the world’s largest initiative to identify, acquire, preserve, digitize and catalog recordings from the black gospel music tradition.

For more information on Dr. King and commemoration events throughout the country, visit the King Center website.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.