Social Activist, Recording Artist Sho Baraka to Visit UF Campus for MLK Celebration

Sho Baraka

Sho Baraka, a distinguished social activist, public speaker and recording artist, will be the University of Findlay’s featured guest for its Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, to be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17 in Winebrenner Theological Seminary’s TLB Auditorium. The event will be free and open to the public.
Sho will also visit and guest lecture in classes during his time at UF, and participate in other public events on campus to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Sho was educated at Tuskegee University and the University of North Texas. He studied television, film, anthropology and public administration. The Atlanta-based artist has performed and spoken throughout the world, and has completed social activist work, ranging from race relations in South Africa to establishing musical cohorts in Indonesia. He also is a founding member of the Christian hip hop group 116 Clique and the founder of Forth District, an urban platform that seeks to redefine online community and engagement via art and insightful discussion by thinkers, artists and musicians.
Other public MLK celebration activities at UF this year will include:

• Jan. 16 – Open Mic Night will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the Alumni Memorial Union’s atrium. UF students, faculty and staff will perform and share poetry, music and short readings. Sho Baraka will participate at the end of the evening. Refreshments will be provided.
• Jan. 16-19 – A toiletry collection drive, with drop-off locations at the Buford Center, Alumni Memorial Union, and Center for Student Life and College of Business. Personal care items such as shampoo, toothpaste, soap and laundry detergent will be collected and distributed to guests who attend the UF-sponsored mobile food pantry.
• Jan. 18 – Sho will facilitate the Buford Dialogue, a monthly conversation that focuses on various current events and social justice issues. The program will take place at noon in the Buford Center for Diversity and Service, 1222 N. Cory St. Food and drinks will be provided. Sho will also serve as the speaker at Revive, Campus Minsitry’s weekly, contemporary student-led worship service. It is scheduled for 9 p.m. in Winebrenner Theological Seminary’s TLB Auditorium.

• Jan. 20 – The Buford Center, in partnership with Findlay’s CHOPIN Hall, will offer a mobile food pantry on Saturday, Jan. 20 in the lobby and parking lot of the Davis Street Building at the corner of Morey and Davis streets beginning at 7 a.m. UF students will sort and distribute approximately 10,000 pounds of groceries and provide optional cultural hands-on activities for community members. For more information on the food pantry program, contact Crystal Weitz, UF’s director of service and community engagement, at 419-434-6671.

The events honoring Reverent Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are sponsored by the University of Findlay Diversity Initiative, Buford Center for Diversity and Service, Black Student Union, Findlay African Student Association, UF Habitat for Humanity, and Student Government Association. For more information, contact Robert E. Braylock, Ph.D., director of Intercultural Student Services, at 419-434-6967.
The University will be closed on Monday, Jan. 15 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.