ITHACA, N.Y. -- Two free public events will mark the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at Cornell University in February.

On Tuesday, Feb. 5, at 5 p.m. in Sage Chapel, the speaker will be the Rev. Amos Cleophilus Brown Sr., the pastor of San Francisco's Third Baptist Church since 1976. On Wednesday, Feb 6, at noon, Brown will participate in a panel discussion titled "African American Political Empowerment: Preparing for 2004" in the Founders Room of Anabel Taylor Hall on campus. The Rev. Kenneth Clarke, director of Cornell United Religious Work (CURW), will serve as moderator. Other panelists will include: James Turner, Cornell professor of Africana studies, and Dorothy Cotton, who was education director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference under King.

Brown received the A.B. degree from Morehouse College, a master of divinity from Crozer Theological Seminary and a doctor of ministry from United Theological Seminary. Under his leadership, the Third Baptist Church has sponsored more African refugees than any local congregation in the nation and has sponsored 80 children from Tanzania to receive heart surgery in the United States. He has served as: a delegate to the 2001 United Nations Conference on Race and Intolerance in Durban, South Africa, representing the National Board of the NAACP; a member of the governing board of San Francisco Community College; chairman of the National Baptist Commission on Civil Rights and Human Services; a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors; and a member of the governing board of the National Council of Churches of Christ. He also is a recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Ministerial Award for outstanding leadership and contributions to the black church in America.

Sponsors for the events at Cornell include: CURW; Africana Studies and Research Center; Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy; Office of the Dean of Students; Religious Studies Program; Public Service Center; and the Office of the Vice Provost for Diversity and Faculty Development.

For more information on the events, contact Janet Shortall at CURW, (607) 255-4214.

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