close

Waynesburg University commemorates MLK Day with convocation, plaque unveiling

4 min read
1 / 3

Steve Barrett/For the Observer-Reporter

Sam London III, assistant football coach for Waynesburg University, speaks during a special convocation held Tuesday at Roberts Chapel on campus to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

2 / 3

Steve Barrett/For the Observer-Reporter

The Waynesburg University Lamplighting Touring Choir performs during the convocation held Tuesday at Roberts Chapel on campus to honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

3 / 3

Steve Barrett/For the Observer-Reporter

A closeup of the plaque that was unveiled near Waynesburg University Tuesday to commemorate the former Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Waynesburg.

“When you are called to do something, you have to do it. Remember, God has a plan for your life.”

Those words were spoken by Sam London III, assistant football coach for Waynesburg University, who served as keynote speaker during a special convocation held Tuesday to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The convocation, which was held in Roberts Chapel on the university campus, celebrated the achievements of Rev. Dr. King Jr., a Baptist minister and civil rights leader who advocated for nonviolent resistance against racial segregation.

London, who joined the university football team’s coaching staff prior to the 2021 season and also serves as the program’s recruiting coordinator, said King courageously walked in his calling.

“What is a calling? The definition is a strong urge toward a particular way of life or career,” he said, while discussing Dr. King’s calling to minister. “He had been pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., slightly more than a year when the city’s small group of civil rights advocates decided to contest racial segregation on the city’s public bus system following the incident on Dec. 1, 1955.”

That was the day, he said, when Rosa Parks, an African American woman, had refused to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger and as consequence was arrested for violating the city’s segregation law.

London went on to explain how activists then formed the Montgomery Improvement Association to boycott the transit system and chose King as its leader.

“He had the advantage of being a young, well-trained man who was too new in town to have made enemies,” he said. “He was generally respected, and it was thought that his family connections and professional standing would enable him to find another pastorate should the boycott fail.”

London also shared King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which was delivered during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom Aug. 28, 1963. In the speech, he called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States.

Now, nearly 60 years after King delivered the speech, London said although progress has been made, the civil rights leader’s dream is still in the works.

He also encouraged those in attendance to find their gifts and, like King, use them to find their calling, as well as to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“Jeremiah 1: 4-5 says ‘The Lord gave me this message: I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations,'” he said. “You were chosen. Your steps were ordained. You can do this.”

Following the convocation, a ceremony was held at a lot near the campus to unveil a plaque commemorating the former Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Waynesburg.

The lot, located at Franklin and Fruit streets, was purchased in May 1883 for $312 with the purpose of building a new house of worship for the church, also known as the A.M.E. Church. This occurred 20 years after the church was established.

Construction of the church was completed in October 1885 and the building was dedicated Aug. 21, 1887. On June 1, 1892, the church was the site of a meeting that protested “The Outrages” taking place in the South.

The plaque states for nearly 100 years Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Waynesburg was a center of African American life in Waynesburg and Greene County.

Guests invited to attend the plaque unveiling included Rev. Georgia Morrow, pastor of Greater St. Paul AME Church of Morgantown W.Va., on behalf of Bishop E. Earl McCloud, Jr. who serves the Pittsburgh-West Virginia, Ohio-South and Ohio-North region; and Marlene Garrett Bransom and William Allen Davison, authors of the book “Early African American Life in Waynesburg, Greene County, Pennsylvania.”

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today