From MSU News Service
Georgetown University law professor Anthony Cook will deliver a January 23rd lecture at Montana State University exploring the life and times of Martin Luther King Jr.
The lecture, “King and the Beloved Community: A Critical Approach to Community Development,” will focus primarily on the years between the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and King’s assassination in 1968. Cook will also discuss what lessons can be learned from a critical period in American history when the nation was grappling with problems of race, class, war and inequality.
The lecture is free and open to the public and will take place at 7pm in Ballroom A in the Strand Union Building. It is sponsored by MSU Extension – Community Development, MSU Diversity and Inclusion Student Commons, the College of Education, Health and Human Development and the College of Letters and Science.
A graduate of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Policy and the Yale Law School, Cook has practiced venture capital and corporate law. He now teaches courses on race and class stratification with an emphasis on progressive politics, voting rights, elections and the legal structure of the political process.
Cook also offers courses on entrepreneurship, urbanization, social innovation and community development that let Georgetown students connect with underserved communities to find solutions to complex problems. He is the author of The Least of These: Race, Law and Religion in American Culture, which explores the relevance of the social gospel and King’s “Beloved Community” – his vision of social and economic inclusiveness – for race, class and cultural divides in American society. The American Bar Association has honored Cook as one of “21 Lawyers Leading America into the 21st Century” for his “unique synergy of action and thought.”
Along with the lecture, the Black Student Union at MSU will host a mini-lecture series for Martin Luther King Day. The series, “MLK Day: A Celebration of the Black Diaspora,” will take place from 9am to 5pm Wednesday, Jan. 22, in SUB Ballrooms A, C and D. Food will be provided.
Members of the Black Student Union will present on topics such as pan-African studies, Black film, colorism and more. The event will end with a keynote speech by Godfrey Saunders, superintendent of Belgrade School District. •