MLK speaker focuses on Black experience, organizing at Manchester
Alumnus Glynn Hines kicks off 50th anniversary celebration of AAFRO House
A Fort Wayne council member with a passion for social justice is the keynote speaker at the 2021 Martin Luther King Jr. Remembrance and Rededication Ceremony at Manchester University.
The ceremony marks 53 years since King delivered his address “The Future of Integration” at the North Manchester campus. It was his last speech at a campus before King was slain in 1968.
Glynn Hines will speak about his experiences of racial tension as a Black student in the 1960s and ’70s, and how efforts that led to establishing an AAFRO House changed his experience at Manchester.
His title, “Rightful Objectives: 50 Years of Black Student Organizing at Manchester,” echoes the AAFRO acronym for which the house was named, Afro-Americans Forming Rightful Objectives.
The University plans an interactive Zoom event for students at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4 that will be livestreamed on the University’s Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/ManchesterUniv.
This speech kicks off the spring semester celebration of the AAFRO House’s 50th anniversary.
The house was established in a former residence at Bond and Miami streets in North Manchester as a place for Black students to be safe and be themselves after several incidents that led some of them to seek sanctuary in the campus chapel.
AAFRO House moved several times over the years, and today the Jean Childs Young Intercultural Center at College Avenue and East Street fills that role.
The center is a home-away-from-home for many students and serves as a hub for multicultural clubs and programming, including the Black Student Union and African Students Association. The center includes the Toyota Round, a multipurpose space that has become a focal point for discussions and programs.
“Manchester is deeply rooted in the peace and justice tradition,” said President Dave McFadden. “In addition to peace studies, which teaches students the roots of conflict and the ways of conflict resolution, we recently added poverty studies to our curriculum. It is one more way that we encourage students to live with compassion and to understand the struggles of others more deeply.”
Hines is an at-large member of Fort Wayne City Council. As council member, he focuses on neighborhood association empowerment, economic and business development, housing revitalization and new housing developments, public safety initiatives and programs that give youth positive alternatives.
The 1973 Manchester graduate serves on the Citilink Public Transportation board, where he was instrumental in placing a “Rosa Parks” seat on every city bus. Hines also serves on the Fort Wayne Commission for the Social Status of African-American Males and the Fatherhood Back-to-School Initiative.
He retired from Brightpoint, where he taught high school students workforce readiness and college preparation skills. Formerly, Hines was an assistant vice president at Bank One and a marketing manager at Xerox Corp.
Hines is a recipient of the
Manchester Alumni Honor Award, the highest recognition the Alumni Association can bestow on a graduate.
The Manchester Peace Studies Institute and the Office of the President made the Feb. 4 program possible. It is part of the Values, Ideas and the Arts series at Manchester, which is designed to enhance the Manchester Core program in the liberal arts through cultural exposure, artistic experience and intellectual enrichment.
For the media
Our contact for the program is Virginia Rendler, Peace studies coordinator, at
vbrendler@manchester.eduOur mission
Manchester University respects the infinite worth of every individual and graduates persons of ability and conviction who draw upon their education and faith to lead principled, productive, and compassionate lives that improve the human condition.
Manchester University, with campuses in North Manchester and Fort Wayne, Ind., provides vibrant and transformative student experiences. Learn more at
www.manchester.edu/about-manchester.
January 2021