The time is always right....To do what is right
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
Welcome to the Swain County Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission Website. The goal of the commission is to promote mutual respect and celebrate diversity in our community, while promoting the ideals set forth by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
To honor Dr. King's legacy, the Swain County MLK, Jr. Commission is calling for a day of service to take place on Monday, January 19th, the Federal holiday for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.
Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
Local citizens have volunteered to share their time and the gift of music with residents at Mountain View Manor Nursing Center and Tsali Care. Students from Western Carolina University and the Center for Service Learning will spend the day with at-risk youth in our county.
Service projects come in all shapes and sizes. The Swain MLK commission is appealing to the community at large for special items needed at Sweet Thoughts Respite Care Center on Bryson Avenue. This facility provides a meal and day care twice a week for those suffering from memory loss. An 8 ft. baseboard heater is not putting out any heat in the main activity room. The screen door to the back porch is rotten and needs to be replaced. A counter height work surface in the kitchen would provide additional space to prepare and serve food to the day residents. If you are interested in donating funds, materials or handyman services for these projects - please contact Denise Tyson at 488-3878.
For those who want to make a difference in the environment, there are numerous roads in the county that need a litter pick-up (weather permitting). Imagine how clean and green our roadways would be if Adopt-A-Highway volunteers and other volunteer citizens came together for the day of service. For supplies - contact Mark Tyson at 488-3878 or email info@swainMLK.com
Each and everyday we all see numerous ways to serve in our own neighborhoods and communities. Here are some suggestions: provide a meal for someone recovering from an illness, do a chore for an elderly or housebound person, spruce up a community center or cemetery, collect canned goods for the local food pantry.....the opportunities to serve are limitless.
Let us know what you are doing to help others on January 19th, 2009 by emailing info@swainMLK.com or call 488-3878. With your permission, we would like to recognize your service project on our Swain County Martin Luther King, Jr. website
Now is the Time is a 6 minute video explaining the National Day of Service
The next meeting of the Swain County Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission will be held on Saturday, February 21st @ 10:00am until 12:00 noon at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.
If you are interested in joining us, or have questions or suggestions, please email us at: info@swainMLK.com, or contact Denise Tyson (828) 488-3878 or Janice Inabinett (828) 777-4683
MLK Day Links
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Information
- The King Center
Established in 1968 by Coretta Scott King, The King Center is the official, living memorial dedicated to the advancement of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of America's greatest nonviolent movement for justice, equality and peace.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site
The Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site includes a number of facilities that are operated in partnership with the National Park Service, Ebenezer Baptist Church and The King Center. Within these facilities the visitor can learn about Dr. King's life and and his influence on others.
- Washington MLK National Memorial
Herein, you will find a wealth of information that will introduce you to one of the most magnanimous projects currently underway in our nation's Capital; the building of a memorial to commemorate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Wikipedia Entry for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 to April 4, 1968), was one of the main leaders of the American civil rights movement. A Baptist minister by training, King became a civil rights activist early in his career, leading the Montgomery Bus Boycott and helping to found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech, raising public consciousness of the civil rights movement and establishing King as one of the greatest orators in American history. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.
- CNN Special Report - The King Papers
Handwritten sermons from historic days. Pencil edits of statements from jail. A worn scrap of paper found the day he died. CNN has been granted exclusice access to these and thousands of other documents from the papers of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
North Carolina Civil Rights History
- The Woolworth Sit-In That Launched a Movement
On Feb. 1, 1960, four students from all-black North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College walked into a Woolworth five-and-dime with the intention of ordering lunch. But the manager of the Greensboro Woolworth had intentions of his own - to maintain the lunch counter's strict whites-only policy.
- 1955 Integration attempt at Swain County High School
Students living in different parts of North Carolina had made history of their own in the late 1950's as the first in their cities to challenge the illegal system of segregation in public schools. Dr. Herman Thomas - VP of Academic Affairs at Shaw University, relates his experiences attempting to integrate Swain County High School in 1955.