Event Commemorating Legacy of MLK Jr. to Feature Keynote Speaker Ogretta McNeil

WORCESTER, Mass. – Ogretta B. McNeil, member of the Worcester City School Committee and former faculty member at the College of the Holy Cross, will be the keynote speaker for a panel presentation titled "Herstory: Five Women of the Civil Rights Movement: A Celebration of Women Who Made an Impact — Shirley Chisholm, Vivian Malone, Constance Baker Motley, Rosa Parks, C. Dolores Tucker" on Jan. 31 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the College’s Rehm Library. The event, free and open to the public, commemorates the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement.

Each woman’s life will be presented by a panel composed of five members of the Holy Cross community: Diana Cruz, assistant professor of English; Sabrina V. Forbes, associate director of Academic Services and Learning Resources; Shakima McCants, community development coordinator in the Office of Residence Life; Lucie Noriscat ’07 and Ferene Paris, community development coordinator in the Office of Residence Life. Each of the five women who will be celebrated died last year and each was pivotal to advancing civil rights in this country.

Dr. McNeil spent 27 years at Holy Cross, where she was a professor of psychology and class dean. In addition to her accomplishments as a faculty member and administrator, she spearheaded a number of important initiatives, including her role as an organizing member of the African American concentration and Phi Beta Kappa and an advisor, member and confidante to African American, Latino, and Asian students. She was president of the New England Psychological Association in 1988-89.

The event is sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Education.