DePaul University will commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a variety of activities on Jan. 19, 1998. The day will begin with a prayer breakfast set for 8 a.m. followed by a lecture on the mothers of the civil rights movement at 11:30 a.m. and concluding with a candlelight procession at 6 p.m.

Richard Gaskins, vice president of the Diversity Resource Center for American Express Financial Advisors, will keynote the breakfast. Gaskins, who has over 25 years' experience working in corporate diversity, will offer his perspective on how corporations should promote diversity. He will also give his view on where education has succeeded and failed in fostering diversity. This event is closed to the public. It will take place in the lower level concourse of the DePaul Center, 1 E. Jackson Blvd.

At 11:30 a.m., the Women's Center at DePaul will host "Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Mothers of the Civil Rights Movement" in the Stuart Center, 2311 N. Clifton Ave., Room 174, on DePaul's Lincoln Park Campus. The program will feature Clenora Hudson-Weems, an associate professor of English at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She will discuss how the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till was the major catalyst of the civil rights movement. Till, a 14-year-old black youth from Chicago, was lynched in Money, Miss. for whistling at a white woman. In her presentation, Hudson-Weems will explore how this single event, when coupled with the refusal of Rosa Parks to relinquish her seat on a bus to a white man, sparked the entire movement.

Hudson-Weems' book, "Emmett Till: The Sacrificial Lamb of the Civil Rights Movement," is scheduled to be made into a feature film this year. A reception will be held immediately after her presentation, which is free and open to the public.

From 6 p.m. until 8 p.m., the DePaul Cultural Center will sponsor a candlelight vigil and program to honor King. The procession, which is open to the public, will start on the east side of DePaul's quadrangle in the St. Vincent Circle (the south side of Fullerton avenue just west of and Seminary avenue), and conclude at Cortelyou Commons, 2324 N. Fremont St. A celebration featuring DePaul's gospel choir and a program by the Mile Walkers, a university educational theater group, will be held in the Commons to cap the evening.

NOTE TO EDITORS: The prayer breakfast is closed to the pubic, but media wishing to cover it are welcome to attend. For information about covering any of the events, call Valerie Phillips at 312/362-5039. Questions from the general public should be directed to Elva Caballero, DePaul's Cultural Center director, at 773-325-7518.