Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Luncheon

Dyersburg State Community College and the Dyersburg/Dyer County Chamber of Commerce will host the Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Luncheon at noon on Thursday, Jan. 15, in the E.H. Lannom Jr. Gymnasium on the Dyersburg campus.

This year's guest speaker will be Dr. Vasco A. Smith III (Smitty) of Memphis, son of the late Dr. Vasco A. Smith Jr. and Maxine A. Smith -- both active civil rights leaders in the Memphis region. Smitty was in the first group of students that integrated Peabody Elementary School in 1962. Throughout his early life, Smitty was usually alongside his parents when they participated in civil rights marches and demonstrations. He was often arrested with them and taken to jail, the first time as a toddler. Smitty was in the choir stand at Mason Temple, just a few feet away from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., when he made his "Mountain Top" speech the night before his assassination.

Smitty graduated from Morehouse College in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology. He followed in his father's footsteps and graduated from the School of Dentistry at Meharry Medical College in 1982 and then practiced with his father for three years.

Tickets for the luncheon, which must be purchased in advance, are $10 each. They are on sale until 4:30 p.m. each day at the DSCC business office located in the Eller Administration Building on the Dyersburg campus and at the Dyersburg/Dyer County Chamber of Commerce.

For more information, please contact Valerie Hardville at 731-286-3300 orhardville@dscc.edu.