Roland Martin To Keynote NC MLK Program

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Roland S. Martin, journalist, author and commentator, will serve as the keynote speaker at the tenth annual joint Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration presented by Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) and Wake Forest University (WFU) on Monday, January 17, at 7 p.m. in the K. R. Williams Auditorium on the WSSU campus.

WSSU and WFU continue to co-sponsor and alternate hosting an event to commemorate King’s life with the theme “On Common Ground.” This year, the program will focus on “Moving Toward the Promised Land of justice.” In addition to Martin, President Nathan O. Hatch of Wake Forest and Chancellor Donald J. Reaves of Winston-Salem State will both participate in the program along with representatives of each university.

A syndicated columnist and analyst on CNN, Roland S. Martin is also a noted author. He has written about perspectives of faith, a Black man’s view of America, and his newest book is on President Obama’s road to the Whitehouse as originally reported by Martin himself. Martin is also a commentator for TV One Cable Network, where he hosts a one-hour Sunday morning news show, “Washington Watch with Roland Martin” and is a senior analyst on the Tom Joyner Morning Show.

Named by Ebony Magazine as one of the 150 Most Influential African Americans in the United States in 2008, 2009 and 2010, Martin won the NAACP Image Award for Best Interview in 2008 and 2009 for his interviews with then, Sen. Barack Obama and with Michelle Obama. He has won more than 30 awards for journalistic excellence, including a regional Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television News directors.

Martin’s career also includes stints at radio stations in Chicago and Dallas as well as publisher of the Dallas-Fort Worth Heritage, a Christian monthly newspaper, and executive editor of the Chicago Defender, the nation’s most historic Black newspaper.

A graduate of Texas A&M University with a B.S. degree in journalism, Martin received a master’s degree in Christian communications from Louisiana Baptist University. He is married to the Rev. Jacquie Hood Martin, author and vice president of Kennedy-King College, and they reside in Chicago.