Harrisburg MLK Day Celebration Looks at Civil Rights Pioneer
William Howard Day Todd Mealy, author of a biography on Day,
discusses the impact of both King and Day. On Thursday, January
19th, the Harrisburg campus hosted its annual Martin Luther King
Jr. Celebration at noon in the Pit. Following a welcome from Dean
Linda L. Ammons, local high school history teacher and author Todd
Mealy spoke to the students about Martin Luther King Jr. and his
predecessor William Howard Day. A photo essay of the new Martin
Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. consisting of pictures
taken by Dean of Students Keith E. Sealing provided a backdrop for
the discussion. "Life seems to have a consistent trend of good and
bad. Because of that infinite cycle, we are always in need of
leaders," said Mealy, who called William Howard Day a great leader
of the 19th century and Martin Luther King a great leader of the
20th century. Mealy focused on Martin Luther King's promissory note
speech -- more commonly known as the "I Have a Dream" speech.
Throughout this speech, King metaphorically explained that the
government had a promissory note to the American people. The
founding fathers promised equality and that all men were guaranteed
unalienable rights. Yet it was obvious that the government had
faulted on this promissory note. He threatened the government with
a peaceful revolution. However, Mealy also noted that there was a
time before the promissory note speech. There was a time before
Martin Luther King Jr's march in Washington, D.C, and there was
another generation of leaders that held that baton. Ninety-eight
years earlier, there was a march in Washington, D.C led by newly
freed slaves. They marched on the capital, using the president's
home as a backdrop, and challenged African Americans to put
pressure on the government for equality. William Howard Day was one
of these leaders. Day was a teacher to children of freed slaves. He
was a preacher and orator, and mo