Southwest Virginia Community College will host a Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration and luncheon on February 5, 2025. The event will begin at Noon, featuring a free lunch, jazz music from the collegeโs music department, student awards, a guest speaker, and a special musical performance.
It is our great pleasure to invite you to our annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Luncheon, featuring an extraordinary guest who walked alongside Dr. King himself during the Civil Rights Movement.
a.k.a โthe voice of Selmaโ, is a celebrated icon of the 1960โs civil rights movement who has since sustained her public activity by frequently performing as a core member of the SNCC Freedom Singers and has graced the stages of Carnegie Hall, the Newport Jazz Festival and the Library of Congress. She is a recipient of the Long Walk to Freedom Award, and has recently been inducted into the Smithsonian Instituteโs โMuseum of Toleranceโ in an exhibition honoring women of the Civil Rights Movement.
Bettie Mae Fikes began singing gospel with her mother at age 4 then, as a founding member of the Freedom Singers, began traveling with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Freedom Rights struggle. This is how she came to be known as the โVoiceโ of Selma. She has performed with the likes of Joe Turner, Lightninโ Hopkins, Albert King and Bob Dillon, just to name a few.
Bettie is also a dynamic lecturer, having delivered moving speeches about diversity and civil rights at universities throughout the United States and Canada. She remains one of only a few living divas who can legitimately lay claim to the title, โThe Queen of the Bluesโ and back it up with both a genuine gift for soul music and relevant historical significance. Her message is universal, timely and timelessly trans-generational.
Bettie Mae Fikes is a powerful, beautiful woman. She holds Blues audiences in the palm of her well-manicured hand when she takes to the stage and begins to tell each person in that rapt crowd a story. Yes, sheโs a storyteller. A musical genius of a storyteller. Sheโll weave you into her story with her impromptu lyrics; caress you with that throaty, rich, velvety voiceโฆuntil you believe you are the only one in the room. Small in stature, she seems ten feet tall when sheโs in the spotlight gazing down at you. Her voice can vibrate a room until the walls beg for mercy.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration & Lunch
Those who would like to attend this free celebration and luncheon are asked to RSVP by completing the form below or calling 276-964-7741.
All Southwest locations are CLOSED through Monday, February 17, due to regional flooding and inclement weather.Day & Evening Classes are canceled.