Renowned civil rights lawyer to speak during FSU's Martin Luther King Jr. Week of Celebration

Esteemed civil rights attorney and Florida State University alumnus Ben Crump of Tallahassee will be paying his alma mater a visit as a speaker during FSU’s Martin Luther King Jr. Week of Celebration.

While the week will be in honor of King’s life and achievements from Monday, Jan. 16 to Friday, Jan. 20, Crump is scheduled to make his appearance during the university’s Golden Torch Lecture Series event 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Ruby Diamond Concert Hall on campus, following MLK Day.

“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dedicated his life to improving the lives of others, and we celebrate his legacy each year with a week of activities designed to encourage future generations to not only learn more about Dr. King, but also about his ideals and goals,” Sierra Turner, a program director in the Center for Leadership & Social Change, said in a prepared statement. Turner is also one of the MLK Week’s organizers.

As an FSU graduate who earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice as well as a juris doctor degree at the university, Crump went on to become the founder and president of Tallahassee-based national law firm Ben Crump Law in 2017. The new establishment came several years after his role as partner in the co-founded personal injury firm Parks & Crump with attorney Daryl Parks.

Crump is also known for representing families in nationally recognized civil rights cases of Black victims that include Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd as he continued to advocate for social justice.

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Aside from the legal world that Crump takes up a significant amount of space in, a Netflix documentary called “Civil: Ben Crump” followed a year in the life of “Black America's attorney general." The film debuted on Juneteenth of last year.

As FSU celebrates King throughout the week, the festivities had an early beginning Friday with a screening of the documentary at the Askew Student Life Cinema on campus.

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A look at Crump’s civil rights efforts throughout his career along with the accomplishments of King throughout his life reveal Crump's relevance to FSU's MLK Week as the chosen speaker for the Tuesday event.

The Golden Torch Lecture Series — sponsored by FSU's Student Government Association and Club Downunder Union Productions — provides the university’s students with speakers who are working at the forefront of today’s political or social issues. Part of the series' mission is to engage students in “dialogue that will positively benefit their overall academic, scholastic or humanitarian experience.”

The overarching theme of the MLK Week of Celebration for this year, is “It Starts with Us: Advocating for Access in Higher Education and Society.”

Other events during the week include Monday's National Day of Service with EngageTLH, Thursday's panel that will discuss first generation and imposter syndrome in the university setting and Friday's mixture among Black faculty, staff and graduate students.

While Tuesday's lecture with Crump begins at 8 p.m., doors open at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are still required and can be reserved through the university’s Fine Arts Ticket Office website.

Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on twitter @tarahjean_.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump to speak at FSU MLK Week of Celebration