Prof. John Dittmer & Tamra Walker '98 to Join in Local MLK Celebration

January 9, 2012

John Dittmer, professor emeritus of history at DePauw University and a noted civil rights historian, will speak at a Putnam County Library event honoring the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The program will take place Saturday, January 14, at 2 p.m. Dr. Dittmer will "speak on the issues of social justice and social class Dr. King addressed in the years prior to his assassination," reports the Banner-Graphic.

The program will also "include a reading done by Greencastle Middle School Principal Tamra Walker who will read a selection reflecting on the occasion." Tamra (Garnes) Walker is a 1998 DePauw graduate.

John Dittmer, professor emeritus of history at DePauw University, will also speak on the issues of social justice and social class Dr. King addressed in the years prior to his assassination.

According to the newspaper, "A 'Dream Chain' will be made of multi-colored links on which students and Putnam County residents of all ages can complete the sentence: My dream for the world is _. Links have been provided to several county elementary schools, the DePauw campus and are available at the Putnam County Public Library. The chain will then be linked and displayed at the library to reflect the shared dreams of the community."

Read more at t John Dittmer Good Doctors he Banner-Graphic's website.

John Dittmer was the recipient of the 2006 Indiana Humanities Award and 2005-07 Ford Foundation Fellowships and received the Bancroft Prize, generally considered the most prestigious award in the field of American history writing, for his 1995 book Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi. He also authored the 2009 book The Good Doctors.

Dittmer delivered the principal address to DePauw's Class of 2009 at the University's 170th commencement and received an honorary doctoral degree. A summary of his remarks and an MP3 file of the complete speech can be accessed in this report. Video of the address is posted below.