Judge and artist to lead Martin Luther King breakfast
College of DuPage and Benedictine University will co-host the 21st annual the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast next month on Benedictine's Lisle campus.
The event, which honors the civil rights leader and celebrates the diversity of community colleges, will feature speaker Arnette R. Hubbard, judge of the Cook County circuit court, law division.
Hubbard began her legal career as a staff attorney for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She entered into private practice in 1972 and, in 1981, was sworn in as the first woman president of the National Bar Association.
Hubbard focused on voters' rights as a member of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners beginning in 1989, and in 1992 became the first African-American commissioner elected president of the Association of Election Commissioners of Illinois. She was also the first woman president of the Cook County Bar Association, the nation's oldest African-American bar association.
Hubbard was sworn in as judge in the First Municipal District in 1997 and was assigned to the law jury section of the law division. Dedicated to social change and civil rights, Hubbard has received the Clarence Darrow Award in recognition of her contributions to social justice.
She also was presented with the Obelisk Award for education and community service, and was the first woman inducted into the Scroll of Distinguished Women Lawyers by the National Bar Association. In 2009, Hubbard was the recipient of the Margaret Brent Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Bar Association.
The MLK breakfast also will feature guest artist Keith M. Kelley, executive director and lead instructor for the Spoken Word Academy of Chicago. An award-winning arts educator, poet and musician, Kelley has conducted innovative workshops on poetry, music and performance with youth and young adults for Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago Public Schools, Smart Museum of Art (University of Chicago), Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education, Chicago Children's Museum, Illinois Wesleyan University, Shanti Foundation for Peace, and After School Matters.
In addition, at the breakfast, College of DuPage and Benedictine will announce winners of the 2015 the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarships. Each year two students from each school are awarded $1,000 based on essays they submit detailing how the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has impacted their lives and how his teachings have changed the way they treat others.
The breakfast begins at 8 a.m. Monday, Jan. 18, at the Krasa Center Dining Room on the Benedictine campus, 5700 College Road, Lisle. Tickets are $25. To purchase, visit atthemac.org or call (630) 942-4000. A portion of the proceeds from this event benefits the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Fund.
For information, visit cod.edu/MLK.
If you go
What: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast
When: 8 a.m. Monday, Jan. 18
Where: Krasa Center at Benedictine University, 5700 College Road, Lisle
Cost: $25
Info: (630) 942-4000, atthemac.org or cod.edu/MLK