UA-Fayetteville Education Association / Local 965 was represented at the 29th annual Freedom March of the Northwest Arkansas MLK Council. With temperatures in the low 20s, the march was retrofitted into an auditorium sit-down program on the national Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Monday, Jan. 20, 2025.
Union members were among the estimated 200-plus audience members to hear a couple of traditional songs, an invocation and a reading of King’s final speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” by four men and a woman.
For Local 965, a key moment was that the audience held its ovation after the speech reading ended. With no prompting the crowd stayed silent for a long moment, in reflection, until the emcee encouraged applause.
Media reports fill in some key details:
- “MLK Council holds 29th annual Freedom March in Fayetteville,” KNWA-TV, Jan. 20, 2025
- “‘We Must Press Forward’: Fayetteville’s Freedom March Goes Indoors to Celebrate King,” (alternate link) Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Jan. 20, 2025
- “Community Gathers for MLK Celebration Despite Frigid Temperatures,” Fayetteville Flyer, Jan. 20, 2025
- “MLK Day Weekend Included Freedom March, Conversation with Michael Eric Dyson,” KUAF Public Radio, Jan. 21, 2025
- “MLK Day Speaker Connects Legacies of King and Brown v. Board of Education at UA-Fayetteville,” (alternate link) Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Jan. 21, 2025
The Northwest Arkansas MLK Council hosted several events over the holiday weekend including an address in conversation format by best-selling author and Vanderbilt sociology professor Michael Eric Dyson at its 29th annual Recommitment Celebration Program on Jan. 18 at Fayetteville Public Library.
UA-Fayetteville Education Association 