MLK Commemoration Keynote Speakers

The honorable John Lewis, U.S. Congressman from Georgia and civil rights leader will deliver the keynote address “Fostering The Beloved Community” on Monday, January 16, 2012 in Langford Auditorium at 7PM.  Opening performances and readings will begin at 6:30 p.m.  A reception and book signing will follow the keynote address.

U.S. Congressman John Lewis

Often called ”one of the most courageous persons the Civil Rights Movement ever produced,” John Lewis has dedicated his life to protecting human rights, securing civil liberties, and building what he calls “The Beloved Community” in America.

He was born the son of sharecroppers on February 21, 1940, outside of Troy, Alabama.  He grew up on his family’s farm and attended segregated public schools in Pike County, Alabama.  As a young boy, he was inspired by the activism surrounding the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which he heard on radio broadcasts.  In those pivotal moments, he made a decision to become a part of the Civil Rights Movement.

As a student at American Baptist College, John Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.  In 1961, he volunteered to participate in the Freedom Rides, which challenged segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South. Lewis risked his life on those Rides many times by simply sitting in seats reserved for white patrons.  He was also beaten severely by angry mobs and arrested by police for challenging the injustice of Jim Crow segregation in the South.

During the height of the Movement, Lewis was named Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which he helped form. At the age of 23, he was an architect of and a keynote speaker at the historic March on Washington in August 1963. In 1964, John Lewis coordinated SNCC efforts to organize voter registration drives and community action programs during the Mississippi Freedom Summer. The following year, Lewis helped spearhead one of the most seminal moments of the Civil Rights Movement.   Hosea Williams, another notable Civil Rights leader, and John Lewis led over 600 peaceful, orderly protesters across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965.  They intended to march from Selma to Montgomery to demonstrate the need for voting rights in the state.  The marchers were attacked by Alabama state troopers in a brutal confrontation that became known as “Bloody Sunday.”   News broadcasts and photographs revealing the senseless cruelty of the segregated South helped hasten the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  Despite more than 40 arrests, physical attacks and serious injuries, John Lewis remained a devoted advocate of the philosophy of nonviolence.

In 1981, he was elected to the Atlanta City Council. While serving on the Council, he was an advocate for ethics in government and neighborhood preservation. He was elected to Congress in November 1986 and has served as U.S. Representative of Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District since then. He is Senior Chief Deputy Whip for the Democratic Party in leadership in the House, a member of the House Ways & Means Committee, a member of its Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, and Chairman of its Subcommittee on Oversight.

John Lewis holds a B.A. in Religion and Philosophy from Fisk University, and he is a graduate of the American Baptist Theological Seminary, both in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been awarded numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities and is the recipient of numerous other awards, including the Lincoln Medal from the historic Ford’s Theatre, the Capital Award of the National Council of La Raza,  the Martin Luther King, Jr. Non-Violent Peace Prize, the NAACP Spingarn Medal, and the John F. Kennedy “Profile in Courage Award” for Lifetime Achievement. The Timberland Company has developed the John Lewis Award, which honors the commitment to humanitarian service by acknowledging members of society who perform outstanding humanitarian work.  And the company has established a John Lewis Scholarship Fund.

John Lewis co-authored his biography with writer Michael D’Orso, entitled Walking With The Wind: A Memoir of the Movement. Other books about his life include: Freedom Riders:  John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement, by Ann Bausum  and John Lewis in the Lead , by Jim Haskins and Kathleen Benson.   John Lewis has also been featured in many books about the civil rights movement, including The Children by David Halberstam and the Taylor Branch series on the Movement.  He has been interviewed for numerous documentaries, news broadcasts, and journals.

Dr. Debra A. Toney, Ph.D, RN

School of Medicine and School of Nursing present

Dr. Debra Toney

Debra A. Toney, PhD, RN is the President and owner of TLC Health Care Services In Las Vegas, Nevada.  During her 27 years nursing career she has held a variety of leadership roles in interdisciplinary settings.  Dr. Toney is the former Chief Administrative Officer for Rainbow Medical Centers where she co-led the organization from a single office to one of the largest family practice/urgent centers in Las Vegas, Nevada.  In her role as Chief Administrative Officer, Dr. Toney was responsible for all clinical and administrative activities for six full service urgent care centers and an outpatient diagnostic center.  In 1998 all six centers received accreditation by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations under her leadership and became the only independent organization in the State to receive this recognition.

Awards include Nevada Business Press Outstanding Health Care Leader, National Black Nurses Association Nurse Entrepreneur of the Year and others.  In 2006 she received Congressional Recognition from Nevada’s United States Congresswoman for her contributions to quality health care.  Woman to Watch in 2008, American Legacy Magazine Multicultural Health Care Award

Dr. Toney is the immediate past President of the National Black Nurses Association.  She serves on several advisory boards including the National Institutes of Health, Office of Research on Women’s Health, Chair of the Nevada State Office of Minority Health Advisory Committee, Nevada State Board of Health and a member of the Nominating Group of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  Dr. Toney is active in several professional organizations and is Founder of the Southern Nevada Black Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tau International, Nevada Nurses Association, Nevada Organization for Nurse Leaders and National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations where she is a member of the Board of Directors.

Rud Turnbull, B.A., Ll.B, Ll.M

Presented by the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center

Free at Last: Kennedy, King, and the Meaning of Liberty for Individuals with Intellectual and Related Developmental Disabilities

Mr. Turnbull will discuss the meaning of liberty for individuals and families affected by disability. He will trace its origins to the early years of this country, its meanings as stated by President Kennedy and Dr. King, and the significance of the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education for individuals with disabilities. He will then describe the nature of rights, the import of the doctrine of the least restrictive environment, the reasons why liberty is more of an ideal than a reality for individuals and their families, and the appeal of liberty to conservatism and liberalism. Bringing theory into action, he will conclude by discussing the meaning of liberty for individuals and their families, the nature of advocacy necessary to increase liberty for them, and the type of liberty that benefitted his son, Jay, who had developmental disabilities and died in 2009.

Mr. Turnbull has won numerous service and leadership awards, including the 2004 Franklin Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from The Arc of USA and the 2011 J.W. Wallace Wallin Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Council for Exceptional Children. He has co-authored three books on public education family life, and numerous articles and book chapters on self determination, public policy, access to health care for individuals with developmental disabilities, and family support.