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Welcome

Azariah Estes

Student Emcee

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"Lift Every Voice and Sing"

by James Weldon Johnson

(also known as “The Black National Anthem”)

Lift every voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring.
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise,
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Here now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget, Thee,
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.

Music accompaniment by

Paul Higdon, DMA,

Professor of Music, Pianist

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Student Speakers

 

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Introduction of 2021 Dr. Rance Thomas Excellence in Community Partnership Award Recipient: Christian Hospital

Accepting the Award

Rick Stevens

Christian Hospital President

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Introduction of NCCU’s Oratorical Contest Winners

Rance Thomas, Ph.D.

NCCU President

Winners: Grades 9-12

Winners: Adults

 

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Keynote Address

Rudolph Nickens

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Sustainability Partner at Evolution

Rudy Nickens is an executive coach, facilitator, educator, entrepreneur and thought leader with expertise in cultural diversity, business management and community development. For over two decades, he has consulted, educated and trained hundreds of local, national and international organizations in workforce diversity, leadership development, cultural competence and conflict resolution. He specializes in efforts to eliminate the effects of internalized racism and sexism and violence against women.

Prior to joining Evolution, Nickens was the director for equal opportunity and diversity for the Missouri Department of Transportation, which has a budget of over $2.6 billion and more than 6,000 employees. In the wake of the death of Michael Brown, Jr. in 2014, the governor of Missouri asked Nickens to work with the Ferguson Commission whose mission was to conduct a “thorough, wide-ranging and unflinching study of the social and economic conditions that impede progress, equality and safety in the St. Louis region.” 

Nickens also served as executive director of The St. Louis Black Repertory Company and vice president of St. Louis 2004, a civic organization created to act as a catalyst for community development. Beyond his organizational leadership roles, Nickens owned and operated The Sunshine Inn for years, which in addition to having great food, was an institution that provided a place and resources for all kinds of community activity from art to politics to community organizing.

Nickens earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. A Rockefeller Foundation Next Generation Leadership Fellow, he received the Ethics Project’s Inaugural Ambassador Andrew Young Award for outstanding leadership and the Robert Bradley Award for distinguished service.

 

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Thanks to the MLK Celebration Planning Committee