The life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be honored with a week of events at Hesston College Jan. 17 to 21.

The week’s events, entitled “United We Stand? Lament and Celebration” will focus on social diversity especially related to Native Americans and African Americans along with social inequality and environmental issues. All events are free and open to the public.

Rosina Phillippe, a nationally recognized human rights and environmental activist will be the keynote speaker Jan. 17 and 18.

Phillippe is a lifetime resident of Grand Bayou, La. She is an advocate for the preservation of cultural and heritage practices of marginalized families making their living through fishing, including her Atakapa-Ishak tribe who has lived on the Louisiana bayou for more than 1,000 years. Phillippe has partnered with leaders of faith-based and non-profit organizations to work for sustainability for affected families along the Gulf Coast and across the country. Her work addressing issues of Fair Trade marketing, racial injustice, economic instability and coastal restoration has been featured on CNN and the National Geographic Daily News.

Phillippe became acquainted with Hesston College through Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), a volunteer service of various Anabaptist churches which helps people affected by disasters clean up, repair and rebuild, and rebuilt Phillipe’s home after it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Hesston College offers a degree in Disaster Management in cooperation with MDS.

Points of focus during Martin Luther King Jr. Week include the Gulf Coast oil spill, how it affects people and the involvement of Hesston College in that area through the Disaster Management Program and Mennonite Disaster Service.

“We want to remember the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the week,” said organizer Dwight Roth. “Dr. King had points of emphasis that overlap with Mennonite and Anabaptist values such as peace and service. The week will be a celebration of social diversity and a lamentation of the injustices that occur as we move toward making Dr. King’s dream a reality.”

Phillippe will speak on “Surviving Disasters: A Louisiana Story” during Hesston College chapel Jan. 17 at 11 a.m. She will speak again at 7 p.m. on “The Atakapa-Ishak Nation Along the Louisiana Coast: A Story of Survival.” Both presentations will be in the Hesston Mennonite Church sanctuary.

Other events during the week include a concert of gospel music by Voices of Joy, the Dell Rose United Methodist Church choir of Wichita at 7 p.m. Jan. 18 in the Hesston Mennonite Church sanctuary. The concert will be followed by a presentation by faculty members Marion Bontrager and Lorna Harder at 8 p.m. entitled “Civil Rights or Opposition to War? Exploring the Events Surrounding King’s Assassination.”

The Wichita African-American Council of Elders will reflect on the life and work of King at 7 p.m. Jan. 19 in Kropf Center room 150 (this event cancelled due to weather). The Council is a collective made up of concerned elders from the Wichita African-American community who have come together to share what they have seen and learned to help the entire Wichita community grow stronger.

History instructor John Sharp will present “Rethinking Worldviews: Where are Native Americans, African Americans, Hispanics, and Women in the Master Narrative?” at 7 p.m. Jan. 20 in the Hesston Mennonite Church sanctuary. Faculty member Laura Kraybill will follow the presentation with a dance of response.