Martin Luther King Jr. Day Events Set for the Birmingham Public Library

The Birmingham Public Library has planned several events to remember slain civil rights leader the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in January 2014.

• The Martin Luther King Jr. Scavenger Hunt will be held January 2-17 at all Birmingham Public Library locations. Ten clues related to important and interesting facts about King are hidden within each branch. Correctly answer all 10 questions on King and be entered into a drawing for a book on King.

• On Friday, January 17, the Birmingham Public Library will host the 11th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture at 12:00 p.m. in the Arrington Auditorium at the Central Library. This year's topic will focus on human rights. Patricia A. McCay, chairwoman of the Huntsville-Madison County Human Trafficking Task Force, will be the guest speaker. She will discuss the victims of modern-day slavery, explore ways traffickers entrap and control their victims, and examine certain cases in Alabama. Trafficking happens all over the world, including in Birmingham. Millions of people are victims every year. “The only way to stop something like that is to make people aware of it,'' said Jim Baggett, head of the library's archives department, which is presenting the event. “If Dr. King were alive today, we think this is an issue he would be talking about and battling. This lecture series is our way of remembering King and looking at his legacy and the issues that King thought were important.’’

• From January 15-21, children may express their dreams for the future in an art project called "Live the Dream'' in the Youth Department of the Central Library. During this time, children can decorate a Freedom Friend and complete the sentence: "I have a dream that all people in the world..." All Freedom Friends and the answers will be displayed at the Central Library. The project embraces the unity and the love Dr. King had for all people and what he encouraged people to show others.

• Students can celebrate King’s actual birthday on Wednesday, January 15, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Youth Department of the Central Library by playing dress up and reciting theater lines about his life during the "I Have a Dream: A Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration." There will be a birthday cake, art projects, decorating of Freedom Friends, and materials on King, too.

For more information, contact the Birmingham Public Library Youth Department at 226-3655.