Keeping the dream alive
Tom Jones of Columbia, a veteran of the civil rights movement, addressed students, faculty and staff during a chapel Jan. 20 at SWU.
Tom Jones of Columbia, a veteran of the civil rights movement, addressed Southern Wesleyan University students, faculty and staff during a chapel Jan. 20 at Newton Hobson Chapel on the university's campus in Central. The chapel was held in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Jones, who is a public relations executive and much sought-after speaker, recalled how as a young man working with the Youth Council of the NAACP in New York he helped organize groups of civil rights activists. Jones also shared his experiences of meeting Dr. King and related the dangers he and others faced during the 1950s and 1960s. Jones has worked closely with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was a youth organizer of the historic March on Washington in 1963.
Jones challenged students to be energized by the educational process they are engaged in at Southern Wesleyan. He urged them to follow King's example by practicing justice and equality, and emphasized the importance of exercising the right to vote.
Later that day, students, faculty and staff gathered around the big screen in the Campus Life Center to witness fulfillment of King's dream as Barack Obama took the oath of office as the first African-American president of the United States.