Most adults of a certain age can tell you exactly where they were when they learned that Martin Luther King Jr. died. Many can tell you about the time they met him, marched with him or heard him speak for the first time.

Former Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street, now a faculty member in the department of political science, said he met King for the first time while still in college.

“We knew he was special,” said Street. “But we didn’t realize at the time that his life would take the twists and turns that it did. We didn’t realize he would leave such a lasting legacy.”

And among those who lived through the civil rights movement, many feel it’s a legacy that’s close to being forgotten. Now, nearly 42 years after King’s death, Street says many young adults today view King as more of a mythical figure, frozen in history.

But a new, university-wide committee has been appointed by President Ann Weaver Hart to make sure that doesn’t happen. Led by Rhonda Brown, the associate vice president of multicultural affairs, the committee will create programming to commemorate King’s legacy, not just on the annual day of service in January, but throughout the year as well.

“Most people who were alive during the movement have a snippet of King though a time when they were touched by either an action or a person involved in the movement,” said Brown. “It gives us ownership of something that changed history. But many of the students we teach today don’t have that snippet. They don’t have their own memories or pieces of history, and for them, King becomes more martyr-like than realistic.”

The committee’s first event, “Keeping the Dream Alive,” held on Jan. 21, featured an MLK-themed banner design competition and silent march around campus, organized by the Office of Residential Life's Social Justice Committee, and a program about King's life featuring video clips, musical selections, spoken word readings and reflections by students, faculty and staff.

Michelle Bonilla, an assessment specialist at the Center for Social Policy and Community Development, was born in 1981, and said she “missed the era of Dr. King completely.” Yet at the event, she spoke of how his ideals were present in every aspect of her life growing up, and how her parents, immigrants from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, taught her to be kind and respectful to everyone, no matter their age, race or sexual preference.

“My father told me that outside we might all look different, but inside we are all the same. We all bleed red, no matter who we are or where we’re from,” she said.

Sophomore Eugene Okparaeke also was not alive during King’s era, but said he still recognized the importance of his legacy. He and fellow students in the Elmira Jeffries Residence Hall designed a banner that featured the American flag, because he said it symbolized freedom.

“King was the embodiment of what a true American is — someone who wants freedom and equality for everyone,” he said. “[I wanted to participate] because our generation doesn’t realize his impact. We see it in textbooks, but we don’t understand the gravity. We don’t realize that without this man, we could have lived in a whole different world.”