May 22, 2006—The Reverend Doctor Joseph E. Lowery, president emeritus and co-founder, with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, will present Oberlin College's 2006 Baccalaureate address Sunday, May 28 at 2 p.m. in Warner Concert Hall.

Participating in the Baccalaureate Service with Dr. Lowery will be the Rev. Manfred Lassen, Oberlin College Protestant chaplain. The Reverend John Morgan, professor of the literature of the New Testament and of the history of the church, presented the first college address designated as Baccalaureate in August 1859 as part of Oberlin's 26th commencement.

Titled "All God's Children Got Shoes," Dr. Lowery's address will be based on Luke 15.11-32. The speaker, named one of the nation's "15 Greatest Black Preachers" by Ebony Magazine, has been described as "the consummate voice of biblical social relevancy, a focused prophetic voice, speaking truth to power." 

The NAACP has hailed Dr. Lowery, a major participant in landmark civil rights events that have spanned six decades, as "the dean of the civil rights movement." In 1957 he co-founded the SCLC, with Martin Luther King, Jr., and served as president from 1977 to 1998. Dr. Lowery is emeritus chairman of the Black Leadership Forum, Inc, a consortium of national black advocacy organizations, and convener of the Georgia Coalition for The People's Agenda. The Joseph E. Lowery Institute for Justice & Human Rights was established in his honor at Clark-Atlanta University in 2001.

Oberlin's Baccalaureate Service will include readings from Scripture and hymns with music performed by the Gateway Band, a student jazz ensemble, vocalist Janice Reddick, OC '04, and pianist Courtney Andrews OC '04.