Students attend Martin Luther King Jr. Day lecture

On January 21, Western Connecticut State University hosted a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. community celebration. Jeremy B., Guy C., Chelsea C., Matt D., Nick D., Angela D., Michelle P., Matt S., Max T., PJ V. and Alex W. and four teachers attended this community. Carlotta Walls Lanier, who was one of the Little Rock Nine, spoke at WCSU describing her experience and to pay tribute to the work of Dr. Martin Luther King. Ms. Lanier was one of only two of the Little Rock Nine who went back to the high school the year after it was closed and finished her high school degree there.

This represented an invaluable opportunity for the students to meet a historic figure in person, while hearing her first-hand account of what happened the day she dared to walk into an all-white Southern high school.

Michelle P. commented that hearing Mrs. Walls Lanier speak about her experiences brought history alive and helped her to better understand the situation. P.J. V. posed a question that the keynote speaker recognized and the response was followed by a rousing round of applause. In talking about the experience, Mrs. Walls Lanier said that she never felt she was doing something heroic: "It was just the right thing to do."

She added that ordinary people have the ability to impact history by simply striving to do the right thing.