By Sesa Graham
Today is a holiday, a significant one at that. Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The third Monday in January is reserved in honor of him, and it is much deserved.
Today is a holiday to honor the achievements of Dr. King, who not only was a passionately devoted Baptist minister but also one of the world’s most influential civil rights leaders, advocating for nonviolent resistance against racial segregation across the United States through the 1950s and 1960s until his assassination in 1968.
He fought for systematic change and played a pivotal role in the adaptation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Civil Rights Act illegalized discrimination by “race, color, religion, or national origin” in the workforce and in public. The Voting Rights Act protects African Americans’ right to vote by disallowing literacy tests or any prerequisites to voting for any citizen.
He is a hero, leader, and inspiration to all.
Delta College has awarded Lula Woodard the Spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. Award. An award was presented by the Delta College Black Faculty and Staff Association and the Saginaw chapter of Alpha Pi Alpha, of which Dr. King was a member.
“I am not really shocked, but I am elated because I have been doing the work,” Woodard said about being chosen as the recipient of the Spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. Award. She said she feels nervousness and butterflies in her stomach when talking about the Award along with the five-minute speech she will be giving.
After moving from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Chicago at the age of 12, Woodard became, as she said, “a product of the Chicago Public School system.” She then went on to get an Associate Arts Degree from Malcolm X Community College and a Bachelors from Chicago State University.
From there, she worked for the State of Alabama teaching. Woodard then attended the University of Alabama and got her Master’s. And now, an adjunct professor in the writing department at Delta College for almost eight years. Aside from teaching, she is a certified recovery coach and a licensed social worker.
Woodard said, “I just try to be present, to have a voice because I think now is the time for women to have a voice. We have been fighting for long enough.” She included that it is time for the people of color to rise as well and be able to express equality and justice. She believes that is what Dr. King did.
She is involved in many organizations such as Women of Colors, a nonprofit that promotes diversity to empower women while mentoring the youth, and Saginaw Citizens of Justice, a group of individuals working together to make a positive change in the community of Saginaw. Woodard also is a leader in her church, Victorious Believers Ministries.
Although Woodard moved from the south to Saginaw due to her brother being stationed here, she still saw persecution. “It’s not about what the south has done because the north has been brutal as well,” she explained. Having dealt with the Ku Klux Klan, she recently found out that Michigan has about thirty-eight white supremacy groups, one of which being the Proud Boys.
Woodard expressed that the spirit of Dr. King is that we are all human beings, but we need to learn to work together because his goal was not to keep us separated.
Woodard’s advice for everyone is, “get the knowledge, get the truth, embrace the truth.” She shared that it is time for a change, and we have to be the change that we want to see.
Woodard will receive the Spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. award today at the 26th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Luncheon at The Dow Event Center in Saginaw.
For more information about the event, please contact Christopher A. Foxx, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity MLK Event Chair, at (989) 295-1271.
Past Award Recipients:
2021 – Beth Kelch
2020 – Carlos McMath
2019 – John Neal
2018 – Veronica Bond
2017 – Monica Hernandez-Alaniz
2016 – Rosemary Reeves
2015 – Dr. Linda Holoman
2014 – Dr. Charissa Urbano
2013 – Carl Ruth
2012 – Beverly Westbrook
2011 – Mary Beth Looby
2010 – Dr. Jean Goodnow
2009 – William E. Ketchum, Jr.
2008 – Teresa Stitt
2007 – Katrina Nichols
2006 – Joan Sabourin
2005 – Jack Crowell
2004 – Neville Britto
2003 – John Pugh
2002 – Willie Thompson
