Jan. 13, 2011

LANCASTER – The public is invited to join students, faculty and staff of HACC-Lancaster Campus next week to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with area residents who have first-hand knowledge of events during the civil rights movement in the turbulent 1950s and ’60s.

“Unsung Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement” will be presented from noon-1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19, in room 203 of the East Building on the campus, 1641 Old Philadelphia Pike.

The two speakers, Ann Durr Lyon and Robert A. Scott, Ph.D., played significant roles in combating the ills of segregation during this period and throughout their lives.  Lyon of Harrisburg is the daughter of civil rights activists Virginia and Clifford Durr, an Alabama lawyer who represented Rosa Parks in her challenge to the segregation of buses that launched the 385-day Montgomery Bus Boycott on Dec. 1, 1955, led by King.

Scott, professor emeritus at the Pennsylvania State University in the Department of Behavioral Science and Education, knew King during their college days. Scott participated in the historic Lunch Counter Sit-Ins launched Feb. 1, 1960, in Greensboro, N.C., that reinvigorated the civil rights movement. He was honored in February 2010 by the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro with its “Unsung Hero” award for his participation in the demonstrations.

Each will share stories of their experiences in the civil rights movement and how those experiences and King’s legacy have impacted their lives.

Lyon followed her parents’ civil rights activism, working at Hull House in Chicago, the settlement house started by Jane Addams. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Wisconsin and a graduate degree in social work from Howard University. She and her husband Walter Lyon, a public health officer, and their four children came to the Harrisburg area where she became a sociology and psychology professor at HACC. During her 23-year tenure, Lyon developed and directed the human services program, initiated grants to design the early childhood education and legal assistants programs.

Now retired, Lyon, a self-described “community itch,” initiates activities to fill gaps in community awareness and services. She is founder and chair of the Harrisburg Civil Rights Oral History Project, active in the state chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, is on the advisory committee of the Cumberland County Board of Assistance, and a Democratic Committee Woman.

Honors include lifetime achievement awards from the Mid Atlantic Consortium for Human Services and the Central Pennsylvania chapter of the National Association of Social Workers; an Excellence in Teaching award from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development; and Social Worker of the Year in Cumberland County.

Scott, who also followed in the footsteps of his civil rights activist parents, is a native of Reading. He has a doctorate in individual and family studies from Penn State and has devoted years of research and teaching to human services, writing and lecturing on a variety of topics, including motivation and achievement, personality theories, cognitive development, family systems, cultural influences in treatment, and strength-based assessment approaches with children and youth.

He is president of R. Scott Associates, which provides training and consultation for private and public organizations. Before his appointment at the Pennsylvania State University School of Medicine, Scott was a counselor in the juvenile justice system and at a psychiatric hospital. He is a long-time member of Keystone Human Services and is the 2008 recipient of its Edna Silberman Humanitarian Award.

His awards also include an Outstanding Professor Award for teaching and research excellence from Penn State, the 2008 Individual Champion of Diversity Award, and the Legacy Award, given to men who invest in the success of business, education, government, community and economic development.

For more information or questions, contact Monica Dixon of the Office of Multicultural Affairs at HACC-Lancaster Campus at 717-358-2263.

To attend the event, please register online at www.hacc.edu, click on Calendar of Events and the date of the event (Jan. 19).