District to celebrate legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with noted actress/author Denise Nicholas

Posted January 7, 2011
By Jerry Rogers,
Norfolk District Public Affairs

01/07/2011 - NORFOLK — In honor of the continuing legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Norfolk District will host a special program to celebrate his birthday at 1:30 p.m., Jan. 19, in the multipurpose room of the Waterfield Building. Award-winning film and TV actress and now author Denise Nicholas will be the guest speaker.

You know her best for her roles as Harriet DeLong on the television drama, "In the Heat of the Night," opposite the late Carroll O'Connor, and as Liz McIntyre on the ground-breaking series from the 70's "Room 222". Ms. Nicholas has guest starred on numerous other television shows and appeared in films with comedian and author Bill Cosby and academy award-winning actor Sidney Poitier before pursuing her dream of being a writer. Along the way, she received two Golden Globe nominations, two Los Angeles Emmy Awards, three NAACP Image Awards, and has been honored by Morgan State University and Harvard University, where she has performed.

Her first novel, "Freshwater Road", is the coming-of-age story of Celeste Tyree, set against the sprawling backdrop of America's civil rights movement, specifically "Freedom Summer" in Mississippi. The novel draws heavily on Nicholas' personal experiences during the civil rights movement.

Dr. King's perpetual national holiday theme, in keeping with his enduring legacy of American non-violent activism, is "Remember! Celebrate! Act! A Day On, Not A Day Off!"

On Nov. 3, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill establishing the third Monday of every January as the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Holiday, which began in 1986. However, the effort to make Dr. King's birthday a federal holiday began 15 years earlier, four days after his assassination.

Those events are full of intrigue. Read "The Making of the King Holiday: A Chronology" at Related Links for a detailed historic account.