Record numbers celebrate King

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A. Sue Weisler

Shanon Castle, a member of Garth Fagan Dance, leads a class for members of the RIT/NTID Dance Company.

RIT has hosted some exciting speakers for its annual Expressions of King’s Legacy Celebration—Alvin F. Poussaint, Nikki Giovanni, Orlando Patterson and T. Leon Williams. This year was no different.

On the 30th anniversary of the annual campus event, RIT welcomed Princeton University professor, activist, musician and philosopher Cornel West. He called Martin Luther King Jr. a “revolutionary Christian” who worked tirelessly to unite people for change and who wanted “young people to use their success for something bigger than themselves.”

Nearly 2,500 people from campus and the local community attended the celebration, surpassing a previous record of 800 guests. Participants also listened to poet Joshua Bennett and saw an opening performance by Rochester’s Garth Fagan Dance Company.

Prior to the celebration, Garth Fagan dancers led a master class for members of the RIT/NTID Dance Company in the Robert F. Panara Theatre.