As the first speaker in the second Minority Faculty Lecture Series, the Rev. Joseph Roberts said he plans to discuss the challenges faced by black people and ways to solve them.
“We are tied together and accountable for each other,” he said. “We have to see the interconnections we have with each other. We have a lot of challenges.”
The presentation is the first of four in a series of speakers coming to campus for Black History Month. The College of Osteopathic Medicine is sponsoring the speaker series, “Slavery to Freedom: An American Odyssey.”
Roberts is known for his outreach at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church - Martin Luther King Jr.’s congregation - and for facilitating various programs at his church, including tutoring and counseling programs.
“I hope we will develop world citizens like Martin Luther King Jr., who didn’t confine his fight for justice to the United States,” he said. “I am hoping we will be able to develop a consciousness that lets us appreciate people on all continents and see how their struggle for justice is just like ours.”
The Rev. Wyatt Walker, senior pastor of the Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in Harlem, was the set speaker, but can’t attend because of medical problems.
Beth Courey, special projects coordinator for the College of Osteopathic Medicine, said she thinks Roberts is a good candidate for the series.
“Because he is so community-based with his outreach programs and his connection with King and community service and volunteerism, he will bring it all together in his talk about spirituality,” she said. “We have received a wonderful response, so I think it’s going to be outstanding.”
Sandy Kilbourn, executive director for external programs at the college, said each of the four speakers in the series will spend a day with students and staff to learn about MSU.
“The purpose of the program is to provide opportunities for interaction with minority scholars from various fields, like education, business, industry and government,” she said. “The intent is to bring people together in a university setting.”
Dr. William Anderson from the College of Osteopathic Medicine said he thinks Roberts will offer insight for students.
“He stands in the pulpit where King stood,” he said. “He is recognized throughout the country as an outstanding preacher, leader, lecturer, writer and historian who brings perspective that is unique in that it’s from the seat of Martin Luther King Jr. No one has more firsthand information about what has happened in the immediate environment in which King grew up than Rev. Roberts.”
