News
Press Releases

1/04/05
For immediate release 

Contact: Marilynn Fryer
 (517) 796-8466
e-mail: FryerMarilynT@jccmi.edu

King Dinner to feature Grace Lee Boggs

5 p.m. Monday, January 17, Potter Center

           

            Grace Lee Boggs has been fighting for social and political causes for more than 60 years.  Her involvement encompasses the major U.S. social movement of the past century:  labor, civil rights, black power, Asian-American, women's and environmental justice.  Jackson Community College will welcome this writer, speaker and civil rights activist as keynote speaker for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dinner and Celebration on Monday, January 17, 2005.  The evening will begin with a social hour at 5 p.m. in the Federer Rooms, and dinner at 6 p.m. in the Snyder Dining Room, Potter Center.

            The daughter of Chinese immigrant parents, Grace Lee Boggs received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Barnard College in 1935 and her Doctorate of Philosophy from Bryn Mawr College in 1940.  She came to Detroit in 1953, where she married James Boggs, an African American labor activist, writer and strategist.  Working together in grassroots groups and projects, they were partners for more than 40 years until James's death in 1993.  In 1992, with James Boggs and others, she founded Detroit Summer, a multicultural, intergenerational youth program.  Currently she is active in Detroit Summer, writes a weekly column in the Michigan Citizen, and does a monthly commentary on radio station WORT FM in Madison, Wis.  Her autobiography, "Living for Change," was published by the University of Minnesota Press in 1998 and is now in its second printing. 

            In May, 2000, Boggs received a Discipleship Award from Groundwork for a Just World; in June the Distinguished Alumna Award from Barnard College; and in July the Chinese American Pioneers Award from the Organization of Chinese Americans.  In 2004 she received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the College of Wooster and local awards from Bridging Communities, the Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues, the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights and Peace Action of Michigan.  A plaque in her honor is displayed at the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.

            In addition to Boggs' address, JCC will present the Martin Luther King Medal of Service Award at the dinner, and the Jackson High School Black History Choir will perform. 

            Tickets for the event cost $20 are may be purchased at JCC's Potter Center Box Office, Agape Booksellers, The Thunderbird Café, and D&D Tapes.  For more information, please call (517) 796-8470.

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