Obama to speak for MLK Jr. Day

Barack Obama, State Sen. (Illinois), is this year’s speaker for Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the University.

The annual public service honoring King will be held in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel beginning at noon, Monday, Jan.21.

Obama, Senior Lecturer in the Law School, earned his law degree at Harvard University, where he served as the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. During the 1980s, Obama directed community-organizing projects in low-income communities in New York and Chicago.

In 1992, he headed Illinois Project VOTE!, a statewide campaign to increase voter registration and turnout in poor and minority communities.

In 1996, Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate for the 13th legislative district. He currently serves as Democratic spokesperson for the Public Health and Welfare Committee and co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. He also serves on the Judiciary and Revenue committees.

Obama’s memoir, Dreams From My Father, was published by Times Books in 1995.

The Coordinating Council for Minority Issues, the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Committee and Rockefeller Memorial Chapel staff members organize the festivities for Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the University. For more information, call (773) 834-4672.