Robert Boyd speaks of slaves today

As part of the College’s celebration of Black History Month, Robert Boyd, associate professor of English, presents “Slave Songs: Sounds of Survival” at 11 a.m. in the Goins Building College Center (formerly the Student Lounge).

Boyd’s presentation, a talk accompanied by images and songs of slavery, is imbued with a spirit that echoes the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

That is no coincidence. As a participant in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Boyd heard that inspiring message given August 28, 1963.

In a now famous photo taken at the Lincoln Memorial, standing about five feet from one of the day’s last speakers—a 34-year-old Martin Luther King—Robert Boyd appears in a crowd of black faces.

Watching King deliver “I Have a Dream” that sweltering summer day was a catalyst for Boyd, and from that moment forward, he says, he embraced the Civil Rights movement.

“Robert Boyd is an excellent teacher,” said Pellissippi State President Allen Edwards. “He brings a unique perspective to his students and encourages them through literature and his own life’s lessons to expand their ideas about the world and how they fit into it.”