6:01 Commemoration

Thursday, April 4, 2019 • 4:00pm

Free and Open to the public • does not include Museum admission

Guest Speaker: Omid Safi

Rain location: Hooks Hyde Hall

The annual April 4th Commemoration at the National Civil Rights Museum is a community-focused observance of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the anniversary of his death at the Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968.

The event will feature the changing of the wreath on the balcony of Room 306 where Dr. King was slain and a moment of silence at 6:01pm, the time the fatal shot was fired in April 1968. The program includes guest speakers, music selections, a ceremonial wreath laying and a community litany of remembrance. The event is held in the courtyard beneath the balcony and is free and open to the public.

April 4th Commemoration, an annual event at the National Civil Rights Museum.

The Brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. salutes Dr. King, who was an Alpha, with a wreath-laying ceremony in fraternal colors.

A musical tribute to Dr. King is delivered instrumentally and vocally during the commemoration program.

Museum staff and guest speakers deliver words of reflection and invite guests to carry on the legacy of nonviolence, peace and harmony with a community litany.

A diverse audience from near and far pays homage to the life and legacy of Dr. King each year during April 4th commemoration.

Omid Safi

“Brother Omid” (as he is known to his friends and students) is a professor of Islamic studies and teaches courses on Dr. King and Malcolm X at Duke University.   He is committed to liberationist spiritual traditions that bring together love and justice. 

Omid was recently invited by the family of Dr. Martin Luther King to speak from Ebenezer Church in Atlanta during the national MLK Celebration, and again asked to speak at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel as part of the 50th annual commemoration for Dr. King in 2018.

He has written many books, including Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism; Cambridge Companion to American Islam; Politics of Knowledge in Premodern Islam; and Memories of Muhammad. His most recent book is Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Traditions.

Omid is among the most frequently sought out speakers on Islam in popular and international media. He leads an international program focused on diverse religious traditions in Turkey and Morocco, called Illuminated Tours. Omid’s life is devoted to a tradition of bold and fierce love for all, beginning with those who find themselves vulnerable, and harm for none.