The recipient of 32 honorary degrees and numerous social action and academic awards, Mary Frances Berry, groundbreaking educator, scholar and historian, will present the keynote address during the annual Witt Series-sponsored Martin Luther King Jr. Day Commemorative Convocation at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 19, in Wittenberg University's historic Weaver Chapel.

Berry has led a distinguished career in public service. From 1980 to 2004, she served on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, including a stint as its chair from 1993-2004. Between 1977 and 1980, Berry was the assistant secretary for education in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. She has also served as provost of the University of Maryland and chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Currently the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, Berry was one of the founders of the Free South Africa Movement, which initiated protests at the South African Embassy in the successful struggle for democracy in South Africa. Her passion for the cause led to her being arrested and jailed several times.

Recognized repeatedly for her commitment to public service, Berry has received the NAACP's Image Award, the Rosa Parks Award of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Hubert Humphrey Award of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the American Bar Association's Spirit of Excellence Award and the Ebony Magazine Black Achievement Award. She was also one of 75 women featured in I Dream A World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America, and she has been designated one of "America's Women of the Century," by the Siena College Research Institute and the Women's Hall of Fame.

The former president of the Organization of American Historians and current vice president of the American Historical Association, Berry has also authored nine books, including her newly published work titled And Justice For All: The United States Commission On Civil Rights and the Struggle For Freedom in America.

A graduate of Howard University, Berry went on to earn her Ph.D. in history from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

To Be Inspired